Catingub, Cherrielyn C.

BSN III C; PHILO 102 C

DEATH
Recently, we watched a film in our Philo 102 class about two dying men diagnosed with
cancer. They were very opposite in every way, but they shared the same room and the same
experiences in terms of side effects of chemotherapy and the like. Then they started to create a
bucket list of the things they wanted to do before they die, and they agreed to do it. It seems to
me that they died happily because they were able to live life to the fullest and with no regrets and
it made me reflect about my perception of death.
We are all born with a death sentence. The price of life is death. There is no happy, good
sense-full death or senseless death. Death is a fact of life which happens all around us every day
.To everything and everyone. It happens so things can become new. Even the spiritual death of
the sinful Adam leads to the birth of the new man with his sins washed away. I think the true
meaning of death is to purify.
Indeed, everything that lives will at sometime die. The fear of death is held by everyone. Perhaps
it is the correlation of death with pain or the unknown state of the human consciousness after
death, maybe a combination of both, that creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal,
however, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse. The concept of human
mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon ones society or culture.
When I think of death, there are images of an obituary in a newspaper memorializing a
life lived; a casket containing the deceased person; people dressed in all black; rituals of a
funeral and burial; tears filled sorrow; grief; flashbacks of those who passed on; spirits that speak
to the living; a grey tombstone inscribed with the words Rest in Peace. I also look back to
good times, struggles of sickness, last visits, final words spoken. I believe that Theres a thin
line that separates us from death. We stand inches away from eternity and every day is a step
closer.Is death external to us or is it part and parcel of our being? I had known death even as a
young kid. I started having a grasp on the matter with simple descriptions, yet with magical
abstractions. I saw and heard death everywhere- on TV, over the radio and through experiences.
Back then, death for me was only a temporary phenomenon. The media had influenced me a lot
through their depiction of it. Theres dead person rising up to see again his/her loved ones and
theres the idea of reincarnation.
As I grew up, my knowledge of death changed. Though its embarrassing to admit, I always cry
when an actor dies in the movie, thinking he would never live again and make films. At that
point, death to me was permanent. My idea then was concrete but still with humor in it. In the
context of dying, when we cease to breathe, move and feel; we stay that way forever. Theres no
way we can go back to our earthly bodies. Then we are buried because we begin to rot. We are
buried because our utility as humans has already expired.
The whole experience of death is transcendental. Even the great men of science cannot explain
what really happens in the momentary leaving of the soul from the body. The thin line has been
crossed and we are heading to eternity. To some, the destination is uncertain. Nobody knows
what lies ahead, but being a Christian, I believe that there is life after death. I know that Jesus,
Our Lord and Savior is waiting for us in Heaven and therefore, I can view death as not so
dreadful, because there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.