Sudden Termination of Life is a Given

Last Sunday, my friend's father passed away at the age of 86. He had been running his own antique business that he had founded six decades ago and he liked the job very much; as a matter of fact, he did not mind working on Saturdays and Sundays. According to my friend, last Friday evening, he came home from work, had dinner, and drank some beer and sake as usual. That night, he was found unconscious, his heart and lungs not functioning, and was immediately taken to the hospital, but didn't survive.

People die. It is inevitable. We don't have a choice in the way we die other than committing suicide. If you could choose how you die, what would be your choice? I think the way my friend's father died was ideal since he was healthy until the last moment. Your regular days suddenly stop. Due to medical progress these days, the majority of people die after some period of suffering in hospital beds, sometimes even for years.

Other ways people die: accidents, illness, or getting murdered, all of them have something in common; regular days are suddenly taken away from us. Can we predict when we die? Ironically, that is the last thing we notice in our lifetime. Even though it is a very important piece of information for us, we tend not to even think about it until the last moment. And all of sudden, the time will come; no way to avoid or postpone it.

Although many say death is a part of our lives, most of us are just not prepared to die. I personally do not know how to deal with the issue mentally, but I believe in reincarnation so that death is just an event that allows one to get to the next stage. I even think that death is like being prey captured and eaten by a predator with the belief that my life will go on after that. Sudden termination of our life is a given.