It is a very popular saying, that there are only two things in life that are for certain, “Death and Taxes”. I’m not even sure who first came up with it, but it certainly is pretty accurate. That’s not really the interesting part though. I think what’s most interesting about death is how people react to it.

For some people there is no greater fear in life then the lack of it and then others see it as a release into something greater. My inspiration for this post comes from watching The Green Mile for the first time so just bare with me. What is it that we are truly afraid of? For some (like myself) we find solace in our faith. That God our father will meet us in heaven on the day we take our last breath, but still there is a fear in death it self. After all my years as a babysitter I can’t help but think that we all treat death like a child treats his/her bedtime. We scream and fuss, not because it is painful, but because we think we are going to miss out on some of the fun. I think that when death finally comes for us it will be kind and genital. Now don’t get me wrong, the act of dying probably will not be so great, but that’s not really death. That is life. Life is the painful one. Since the day of conception we all have been dying. Every day of life is a day that we spent dying and yet it is death that we all fear. I can’t help but think we have all been a little unfair to death. Yes, some may use the argument that death is unfair, but so is life. “Death kill children in Africa!” no, life does. Life brings cancer, hunger, pain, heartbreak, and fear while death accepts us with open arms regardless of what we have done in life. Don’t mistake this thought proses for “we should all just die, it would be better for all of us”. That is not what I am saying. Like it says in the Bible, “there is a time to live, and a time to die” but what we do with life and how we welcome death says a lot about us. Struggling through life is our task and it wont always be hard. There will be sunny days where we are surrounded by people we love and who love us, where nothing goes wrong and all is right with the world. These are the days that we all live for, fight for, and survive for. So that when death comes knocking at the door we will open it up and let her in. As she takes us we will tell her all the beautiful things that we stole from life and she will in turn tell us all the beauty we shall find together in death. I think death is a woman, a mother to all the lost souls that she saves from life. She like so many other mothers will be so proud that we fought to live every day to the best of our abilities and in the end tuck us into our eternities and kiss us goodnight. People don’t like to think of death, because it means the end, but its not. Death is only the beginning. Then only thing we should truly fear is what eternity we choose to spend after death in. Who will choose the dark because they are afraid of death, and who will choose the light because they knew not to fear death but instead to fear what happens next. There is one video that portrays a truly beautiful view of death, not as a monster or a villain, but as a mother, friend, grandfather, and guide. It was recently published on the site BoardPanda and it was created by And Maps And Plan. The name of the short film is CODA and this is the link http://www.boredpanda.com/animation-video-soul-death-coda-and-maps-and-plans-ireland/ if you are brave enough to watch it. Maybe death isn’t the villain we all make her out to be. Maybe, just maybe she is the friend that we all get to meet, only when it is our time and not a moment sooner.