The Fate of All

As part of my English Literature course, my class attended a day of lectures in London a few weeks ago. The reason for the trip was to widen our knowledge on the theme of tragedy as this is the prominent theme for our current texts of which we are studying.

During one of the lectures a very interesting point was raised; why do people act like death is morbid and avoid talking about it, after all we all die in the end. I thought this point was tragically beautiful and more truthful than I had ever realised before.

It got me thinking, why do people wish not to talk about death? Why do humans act as if it is some escapable point in time?

It seems that the general view of life is to just ignore the obvious, pretend everything will always be ok. Why? Surely it hurts more to have a loved one die if you've never thought about the occurrence than if you have accepted that one day they will no longer be a living and breathing soul.

To me it seems like the only reason the topic of death can be acceptable is if its all happy and magical. It's like you are allowed to talk about it if you're referring to angels and heaven and all the nice things. Religiously, if that's what you believe then that's fine but, usually, with heaven also comes hell. Who mentions this often? In my experience very few people. It is within my knowledge that you cannot mention hell or the bad things of death without being labelled as a creep or as a dark human.

It links in well with 'emo' and other 'dark' music genres I guess. Very rarely is it stated by singers or bands anything out of the ordinary. People get so cruelly judged on their music taste because all the bands they listen to focus on death or negative views on life but why? We are all going to die aren't we? They are not encouraging death (at least not for the majority of the time anyway) or being offensive or stating they wish to kill people.

You will be frowned upon if you enthuse in theories surrounding death or similar points. A classic example is interests. Each individual has a variety of different topics and concerns which they spark an interest in. We all have them, a topic in which we could read and learn about for hours on end, indulging in information.

For some people, the topic they have an interest in is that such like serial killers or murders. At this, many people shake their head in disapproval or speak with fear. Why? Just because something interests a person it doesn't mean they want to do it. Not every human who finds murders interesting wants to become a murderer. If someone had a strong love for dogs, would people accuse them of wanting to be a dog? No? Didn't think so.

As an issue the viewpoints many people have frustrates me greatly. You shouldn't be able to call someone out on something they enjoy or find interesting, whether it be a topic, music genre, story, just because you view it as 'dark' and 'disturbing'.

The issue is, a high percentage of humans fear the truth. They want to believe that everything will be fine and everyone will be happy. This rarely happens. People don't have happy endings. Somewhere along the line someone you love will die, there will be heartache. Everyone dies and everyone does so with a certain degree of sadness in their life. No one will be happy forever. Bad things happen and there is no stopping this.

I for one find the topic of death interesting. I find I can't enjoy a movie unless there is at least one death. I relish in sadness and heartache. Maybe I'm sick, maybe I'm twisted but it's just the way I am.
No, I don't want to cause death by any means but the fate of it often crosses my mind.

Often I think about all the memories that make up my life and how, in a single moment, the people who helped me create them could be gone. Don't get me wrong, I don't wish for this to happen but I feel as though I must prepare myself for the inevitable eventuality that one day it will. I guess it's my way of protecting myself from future hurt and upset.

I mean, hopefully I won't have to endure the upset too much. In my young life I have already experienced three horrific heartaches and the pain truly cannot be described. I don't want to relive that, or maybe deep down I do, honestly even I don't really know.

Yes, live everyday to the fullest and indulge in happy memories and pretty things in life. But also, don't be held up by the fact that everything could be destroyed in a heartbeat. I'm afraid if you want to live truthfully, one day you must scrap the idea that sadness is avoidable and we are inevitable.

--- Aimee ---