Dying to Live

Today in my Nonfiction II class we read a passage from the book Shot In the Heart by Mikal Gilmore.  It was a gripping tale about his brother, Gary Gilmore, who viciously shot two innocent people.  The death penalty had been illegal prior to this incident, but the state of Utah invoked the death penalty specifically for Gary.  Gary’s brother, Mikal, didn’t want his name associated with the return of the death penalty and so tried to ensure his brother would, rather, have a life sentence.  Mikal’s thoughts on death and capital punishment are eye opening as well as thought provoking.  Gary wanted to die because he didn’t want to suffer in jail for the rest of his life.  And as Mikal points out, one cannot argue with death, it usually comes without warning, but not in Gary’s case.

Death is a somber subject, but much has been written about death because of how mysterious it is, yet how it’s a constant in everyone’s life.  Eventually in some shape and at some time, death will claim us all.  And as Ronnie Radke so cleverly penned, “If we are born to die and we all die to live/Then what’s the point of living life if it just contradicts?”  Fascinating, right?  And such a true, although pessimistic, statement.

I’m not trying to bum anyone out, but I’d like to share some insightful and gorgeous words about death.

1.  “Dying is an art, like everything else.  I do it exceptionally well.” – Sylvia Plath

2.  “From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am them and that is eternity.” – Edvard Munch

3.  “You have a choice.  Live or die.  Every breath is a choice.  Every minute is a choice.  Every time you don’t throw yourself down the stairs, that’s a choice.  Every time you don’t crash your car, you re-enlist.” – Chuck Palahnuik

4.  “Act on your impulse, swallow the bottle, cut a little deeper, put he gun to your chest.” – Ellen Hopkins

4.  “But we try so hard not to die, sometimes we forget to appreciate life.” – The Spill Canvas

5.  “I’d drive my car off of the bridge if I knew that you weren’t inside.  Put the pedal to the floor, who could ask for more?  A fantastic way to kill some time.” – Brand New

6.  “The calm cool face of the river asked me for a kiss.” -Langston Hughes

7.  “Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die.” – Bring Me the Horizon

8.  “Will someone tell me what it means to be alive?  It feels just like the feeling when you die.” – Pierce the Veil

9.  “Can’t you see it’s better to die on your feet than to live down on your knees?” – Dan Nigro

10.  “The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of a million is just a statistic.” – Marilyn Manson

Sempiternal

Hopefully, like me, when you first saw the word sempiternal, you did not know the meaning of it.  It is Bring Me the Horizon’s latest album; but, with regards to definition it means everlasting, eternal, and unchanging.  Which brings me to the novel I have just read: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

For starters, let me give you some basic plot summary.  The Fault In Our Stars is a love story between cancer patient, Hazel, and cancer patient, Augustus, also known as Gus.  Hazel constantly thinks about her battle with cancer and what it means.  She refers to herself as a grenade at one point, meaning she will one day explode and leave little pieces of despair to everyone who ever knew her.  Gus, on the other hand, is enamored with the idea of being a hero and leaving a legacy when he dies.  The book is tragic, yet humorous, thought provoking, but certainly not brilliant.  What the book does well is bring to light a few questions: what is the meaning of life?  does life mean anything at all if death is our inevitable conclusion?  is there such a thing as being remembered after death? and what is oblivion?

Thinking about the idea of sempiternal, I’ve come to the conclusion that we as humans have this desire to be sempiternal in some way.  Think about it.  We study history to learn about the past.  Artists create masterpieces that hang in museums.  Actors star in films that we still discuss today.  Authors write classics that people have on book shelves everywhere.  People leave legacies of all kinds.  When we die people elect to have a headstone so passerbys in a graveyard know who is buried six feet deep.  There are certain names, Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Kurt Cobain, etc. that though they are dead and gone, still remain household names.

However, people die everyday, and apparently for every person alive today, there are 14 dead.  So with a ratio of 1 to 14 we should, in theory, be able to remember every dead person and every person should be everlasting in someone’s mind.  However, that is not the case because as much as we desire a sempiternal existence even after we pass away,  not everyone is granted such a right.  We glorify celebrities, heroes, trailblazers, and those who are deemed important during their life time.  Humans seem to want something more from death.  We host funerals, we decorate headstones, and we try to keep those who have died alive in some way.  On the planet, we are the only species that turns death into a spectacle and insist upon people being sempiternal.  Animals accept death as natural, part of the circle of life.  Yes, I’m sure they mourn and grieve, but what happens to a dead animal?  They are not buried, they are not cremated, they are not placed in a coffin.  They decay, decompose, or are eaten, and life goes on.

I’m not arguing that as an entire population our views of death should be changed nor am I saying that keeping the deceased in our thoughts is a bad thing.  I am just merely pointing out an observation with regard to life, death, and the word sempiternal.

Think about it.  Listen to Bring Me the Horizon’s album.  Read The Fault In Our Stars.