Relative Something

Two nights ago I had a very interesting dream in which I was somehow informed in advance that I would die. The dream impression was that I learned about my impending death before going to sleep and that it meant I would not wake up the next day. I was very excited for this opportunity to know in advance and was looking forward to what my departure from this human body would be like. In the dream, I think Cyndie must have been right there as I learned of my fate and I wanted to share my excitement with her, but I sensed she would not be happy about it and that dampened my gleefulness a bit. Then the thrill truly waned when my thoughts turned to having a chance to tell my kids. How could they be happy with my news?

After I woke and mulled over the sense I got from the dream, it occurred to me how obvious this scenario relates to folks who really are dying. The people who are okay with the prospect of their own death are still woven into the lives of others who often don’t want them to go. Imagine the power that wields.

It brings to my mind the situation that never made any sense to me, where a country needs to police its borders to keep their own citizens from leaving. I have a very difficult time reconciling the way of governing that involves armed guards stationed to force people who don’t want to be there to stay, regardless.

It is radically extreme to apply that thinking to life and death, but in a way, that is how it is. We go to great lengths to keep people from dying, whether they want to, or not. We have a wall up that surrounds the living. Obviously, the wrench in this line of thinking would be the mentally ill. It would not be prudent to allow depressives to have access to convenient exit from life for the misery they experience from untreated ailments. But if it were possible to extract that from the rest of the idea, it would be an interesting mental exercise to work out what the world would be like if somehow there were no strings attached to the decision to choose death.

It would take away one of the big tools of the criminals, threatening people’s lives all the time to get their way. “Your money or your life” wouldn’t work if the response was always, “Oh, go ahead, take my life. My family said I’m free to go any time.”