Matters of Life and Death

"My relationship with death remains the same - I'm strongly against it." [Woody Allen]

I must agree with Mr. Allen on that.

Life and death is no laughing matter, some say. But we do laugh about them both. One easily, the other perhaps a tad nervously. But which one at which time?

The dying man
A priest was preparing a man for his long journey into the night.
Whispering firmly, the priest said, "Denounce the devil! Let him know how little you think of his evil."
The dying man said nothing.
The priest repeated his order. Still the dying man said nothing.
The priest asked, "Why do you refuse to denounce the devil and his evil?"
The dying man said, "Until I know where I'm heading, I don't think I ought to aggravate anybody."

I have had a couple of close calls with death. Near misses, you might say. These have left me wondering about parallel universes. What if, I muse, that close call was just an intersection with a parallel universe? And then I think that it is of no importance if true since I cannot do anything about it, I am stuck in this one.

Don't worry, if you haven't had any close calls... you will. We all do eventually. And, just as eventually (maybe more so), the call won't be close. At some point in one's life, you begin to realize that it is inescapable. At that point, you begin to develop a philosophy about it.

My father lived most of his life with the assumption that he would die in his middle 60's. After all, his father had, his grandfather had, and his great grandfather had. It turned out you cannot depend on your ancestors... he was 84 when he passed away.

Personally, I think Allen really hasn't taken it seriously. If you ask me, he is trying to whistle past the graveyard.

You might want to read more here about getting older and about death from Woody Allen. He is perhaps wiser than he thinks.

It's certain that I don't know any more than he does. Probably a lot less.