
Yes, it comes to us all in the end and obviously we want our demise to happen as quietly and as painlessly as possibly.
However, in my lifetime I have seen my parents, grandparents and some of my in-laws succumb to death via different variations and levels of pain through cancer.
It really is quite hard to watch you mother, father, grandfather etc. take their last breath in some hospital/hospice bed. One minute they’re alive, the next they’re gone!
On all those occasions I kept wondering what they must be thinking in their sub-conscious state? They’re probably aware of what cancer means and that they will succumb sooner or later. But to be lying their in bed just waiting for the inevitable must be quite unbearable.
But then it also got me thinking about how they prepare for death to arrive. Do they think “I will never walk again, never eat again, never laugh again. Could this be my last breath? What happens after that? How will I know if I am dead or if I’m asleep?”
And that’s what bothers me most. How do you know when you’re dead? How does your mind/body tell you’ve reached the end of the line and everything simply shuts down!
I would like to think that crossing the death threshold will be very similar to falling into a deep sleep. It’s just that when we do go to sleep we hope to awaken again a few hours later. But if you go into a deep sleep how do you know you will wake up again?
I think I would hate having to wait around in some hospice bed for death to arrive. Uncertain of when or how it will arrive. Instead you’re just hanging on to the last thin threads of life until your body/mind shuts down for good and there’s nothing you can do about it.
(A very existential nomination, but one that has been bothering me for some time now)
Nominated by : Technocunt