Why do we die?

“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.”

We all die, yet death is such a mystery we never choose too much to ponder about. We all live a life trying to make as much worth of it possible. Making relationships, bringing up families and garnering the fruits of a life well made, and then a day comes when we have no time to look back. We leave even before we pack our bags and there’s never a time to say goodbye to our loved ones. Life is like that, or more; death is like that.

I recently came to know that the fish guy who used to sell me fish from the local super market is no more. I saw him just a week back smiling and doing his chores at the market. We used to occasionally talk and he used to share about his family, stories from back home and much more. He always said he wanted to go back to his family in India, start a small business there and live the rest of his life happily. But then when I heard yesterday that he’s no more, my heart pushes me to a stack and makes me think once again on what life is all about. The joys and sorrows of this lively world is as much as it can take us, and then one day its goodbye time and there we go out again, with no time to hardly say a bye to the world we so adored and lived.

His family of 4 stands shocked to listen of his demise and stranded they are without no words to offer for the loss they will be going through in the coming days with him nowhere by their side. I think of that many souls who have passed away like this, including my father-in-law who so loved to see parts of this world before he could breathe his last. God took him too far, too soon and we keep looking at the stars thinking he’s up there knowing all is going well under his watch. Death is mystifying in its own ways and nobody of us can understand its meaning or its cognoscibility. All we understand is, there will be a day when it happens, and we just need to put that little thought in our mind and go our ways doing what we like best. The rest would taken up to history.

There is a kind of life that leads to death, and there is a kind of death that leads to life. It’s true; when I see people doing things which they are not asked for, but still do it with just one cause, and that is to make the lives of someone better.  And trust me when I say this, There is no greater love than this. There is no greater gift that can ever be given. To be willing to die, so another might live well – and there is no greater life which can be lived than this.

Perhaps the only joy we ever get in life is that someone out there is a little better and a little happier because of us and their joy radiance's in our heart now and then knowing that we have done much than the happiness what we wanted to garner, and that feeling I think is pretty much what I always tell myself “Giving is something no one can take away from you, it just keeps following you the rest of your life”… That joy when you see your child running with the ice cream, or your wife with the little cake you made or the visit you gave your grandmother; those are the little cups of joy which will surpass the worldly joys of living life. And now and then when I get to see clear night skies, I do stand still and look up and rejoice on the lovely galaxy glaze of what the Almighty has done above. Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to letting us know they are happy with who we’ve become to be.

There are lots of people have lost over the years. I love to have them back, when I was young I never understood what death was, which takes away what we love in a streak moment of time. That power above which; in one swing, can take away what we owned for years. I love to have my grandparents, my lost friends, my cousin whom I so loved. Where did they go, who took them, when will I get to see them again? I know a million questions stand between me and the mysteries of life and all I have is no answers and just a feeling of lost. If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love I trust, lives forever.

Science tell we die because our cells age, and that each chromosome lives its strand the way it was coded and then the air we breathe slowly ages our bodies till every cell gives up on us and we lay there for time to take us by. In time, we have learnt that age is our clock, to help us look at ourselves and make us understand that we have duties to do, responsibilities to take and lives to make. Our act on Earth is well defined into the glory of our existence and everything which revolves with it works out to what we define of ourselves and in time, we slowly understand that we die, not because we achieved so much, but because we lived it well. It’s as though every man dies but not every man really lives.

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think of the notions of death. The ideals I stick today will not mean anything at that point; the struggles, the pain and everything will come to an end. It’s like God telling us that, you’ve lived it and now you’re free to go. All you get to leave behind is a legacy of your own, a legacy which will follow you through based on the choices you have made. A name you have earned and garnered over the years you’ve lived over here. “Dying is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over... Death is not anything... death is not... It's the absence of presence, nothing more... the endless time of never coming back... a gap you can't see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound...” It will come like a breeze of the night and take you away like a dream, we can only wonder at its glory.

And in the end, what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. Those little joys we share with our loved ones, the favors we went out of our way for a stranger and the happiness we sparked for our children is all what will stay of us. The dust will slowly segue over our bodies and clear the sounds of our existence and the only whispers our loved ones would hear are the ones which will come in their dreams giving them a smile in their sleep. When there is so much glory to life, Life? It's Death that makes life worth living for.

The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered...In some way or the other, we someday get to realize that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But if you have found that, in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world and to the people around you, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful to myself and the Lord Almighty.

And like what Steve once said :

“.. Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

P.S : Some of the pictures are for illustrative purposes only and are not owned by me.