Thoughts on Death

Death: the subject no one wants to speak of. That is, except for the one who has tasted its touch in their life. Then there is a perpetual, silent plea for someone to willingly enter that dark arena with you. To sit in the silence it brings forth. To delve the depths of loss together. As much as we hate it, death is one of the few things that unites all humanity onto an even playing field.

So, today I went and spent my afternoon sitting in a cemetery. Perhaps an extremely odd decision for someone who's reached their capacity for entering into suffering and death each day. But I needed to be reminded of truth! I grew up being fed such lies in my culture... Comfort is the number one thing you should pursue. Death is preventable, or at least postponable  Or that one can medicate suffering. But when I travel the world, these things aren't the universal things I find. Mostly cemeteries are, which instantly debunks those lies. Little babies and children lie there. Beautiful women and men in their prime of life accompany them. The suffering can almost be felt as you walk through them. Unfinished stories and life stripped away, filling those left behind with deep heartache. Yes, suffering and death are indeed a part of our journey around the sun.

These last weeks have been filled with unprecedented numbers of killings and the death toll world wide climbs higher daily. The news has been filled (though not all stories are mentioned there) with suicide bombings, shootings, and horrific acts of hatred. My mind can't wrap around the sheer number of people that are now deceased from these actions of deranged people. But it sure is forced to try as I go from tent to tent and my friends update me with pictures of various family members and friends that are no longer with us. Death has become as common place to them as breathing. Being on the other side of things, my heart still is screaming: "NO!" What they have come to accept, I still want to fight against. Partly because I can from my comfortable world, but mostly because this is not right or just! People shouldn't lock other people away in a forgotten camp. People shouldn't massacre their fellow countrymen. People shouldn't use other people as pawns in their own agendas. People shouldn't... But they do and are doing this. And the incense of death rises heavenward in innumerable calculations. 

I have no answers these days. Just tears and prayers. However, it was good to be reminded of truth in the cemetery as my heart falters. These poignant words of Jesus bring the much needed salve for my heart: "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." (Jn 16:33)