“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”
“It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
-Ray Bradbury
Death is one of the greatest mysteries. People have many different expectations of death. Some think that it’s part of life that you must live with while others fear it and wished that death would go away. Philosophers and scientists have all debated about what is the true meaning of death and none of them have actually reached an answer.
Ray Bradbury’s grandfather once taught him an important lesson on how one should live. There was no point in living unless the person left leaving something behind that he or she has changed or shaped forever. Then after you die and people look at that object, they will see you standing there as if you were still there. The difference between an architect and a construction worker is that the architect creates the design of a building while the construction worker actually builds it. The architect has not changed anything with his hands, but he or she designed it. The construction worker physically constructed the building and therefore, when people look at it, they will marvel at its presence and how it was built, and they will also appreciate the design of the whole. By actually working on the building, the worker then is connected to the building in a spiritual way. Likewise, the architect’s soul is part of the building. As long as you have interacted with the world in a creative and thoughtful manner, your soul is part of it.
I agree with this – it is true that when someone dies, they leave something behind. You cannot bring a trophy or a stamp collection with you when you die. When you go, it stays. But when your children look at those stamps or trophy, they remember you, since you were the one who earned that trophy or collected those stamps. When we had to move to Hong Kong, I had to pack up everything in my room. I would flip through my desk and find old birthday cards, presents, toys, and books. For everyone object I saw I remembered the giver. I remembered the person because he or she took time to find, to select, and give to me.
Shakespeare died a long time ago, but his literature still remain with us. People today still adore his works and Shakespeare is a major subject in English class. When anyone hears the familiar line, “Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” they immediately know that Shakespeare wrote it. He has written a piece of art with such depth and meaning. Whenever someone sees the title Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the first thing that comes to mind is Shakespeare.
Death is only scary if you wasted life. If you squandered it, taking drugs, getting drunk, or playing video games for your entire life, you will fear death. This is because you have done nothing important in life and nothing will be changed forever because of you. On the other hand, think of a heart surgeon. Surgeons have spent a large majority of their life saving and improving peoples’ lives. All of the patients will be changed until they die. The surgeons, when they die, know that they have lived a good life and have changed the lives of many others. This will perhaps allow them to die in peace and satisfaction. They have had a meaningful life and have created a steady lifestyle so they will not have to worry about what will happen next.
On the other hand, Jonathan Foer said, “It’s true, I am afraid of dying. I am afraid of the world moving forward without me, of my absence going unnoticed, or worse, being some natural force propelling life on. Is it selfish? Am I such a bad person for dreaming of a world that ends when I do? I don’t mean the world ending with respect to me, but every set of eyes closing with mine.”
This means that Foer is afraid of dying – aren’t we all? But he doesn’t want the world to progress without him in the process. He doesn’t appreciate the thought that he is going to be forgotten. He wishes that when he dies, everyone else also will slowly close their eyes with him. It is selfish to wish everyone to die with you, but it’s natural. Foer seems to wish death upon others based on his own fear.
I don’t agree with this quote. When your time is up, there is nothing you can do about it. You have had your time on Earth and if you wasted it, too bad. Other people have not yet enjoyed the full experience of life. They deserve to have the right to continue living. Death is something we must all face and live with.
Ryan White was a teenager who suffered from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. In his final illness, he didn’t want to die. He loved his friends, family, and the doctors who helped him endure his challenges. Both they and Ryan wished that they could always be together. The doctors gave him encouragement and gave him their best, trying to make Ryan’s disease easier to handle. His friends also played a huge role in keeping his family at peace with the community. Most people thought that AIDS was contagious like the flu and that his entire family might have AIDS. Sometimes it seemed as if the entire town of Kokomo, Indiana, wanted to kick them out. One of his friends even broke a classmate’s nose because the student accused Ryan of being gay and sexually active. Ryan said, “My family and I held no hatred for those people because we realized they were victims of their own ignorance.” Contrary to Foer’s admission that he is afraid of “the world moving forward without me… or worse, being some natural force propelling life on,” Ryan said to his mother that everything was going to be okay and that he was not afraid of death.
During WWII, as the German defeat became inevitable, many of the generals committed suicide and killed their entire families. If you asked the wives or children how they felt about that, they would certainly be furious. They were uninvolved in the war and could’ve survived, even if they did have to go through a few years of labor: they still deserved a chance! Each of them had a bright future and even if they wouldn’t had a father or a husband, I doubt any of them would kill themselves over it. No one wants to die.
No one wants to die. In the big picture, no matter how many tough times we go through, life is always good. Death can be viewed as the grand finale of a race. Once you pass the line, you feel a sense of achievement, your name to be remembered for all the years to come. Death can also be viewed as a demon, instantly taking and destroying what one has. People, like Jonathan Foer perhaps, might also think that they will be lonely once they die, or they are simply afraid that something bad will happen to their friends and family. In that case, they would rather have everyone go with them.
There is no true meaning of death. Each person will create their own meaning of death, will have their own expectations, throughout their lifetime. It’s just a matter of when you find out the answer. The answer is only created once you discover your meaning in life.