A BITE OF REALITY
I am past my
sell-by-date. I am of the age that the
reality is I will die within the next ten years – and I will be dead a long
time.
Two days ago,
I hit an ice patch with my car and slid into an ice bank, resulting in a tear
in the front plastic cowling and a dent in the back door of my RAV-4.
My wife
wasn’t happy, but I refuse to be upset about some damage to the car that is
repairable. Shit happens.
The snow
scene up here in Maine is beautiful. I
have a nice home and a great wife, books to read and cats to keep me
company. This accident will cost me a
deductible that I can ill-afford, but in the scheme of things: no big deal.
As far as
eternity, that is the con of religions. Religions promise a get-out-of-death-free
card that doesn’t exist: I will pay you
tomorrow for a hamburger today.
It would be
great to think that when I die a biker club of big breasted Valkyrie women would
roar down to earth to transport me to
Valhalla; where I could pick out my ride, where there is an open bar
with Irish Whiskey and good English beer and bowels of ganja for the sampling,
where all the women are beautiful and horny, where all the great bands
eventually preform: the Stones, Dr Hook, Bob Seger, The Band…
But there is
the same chance of that happening as sitting in some celestial heaven with the
man-god Jesus.
You walk
through the cemeteries here in New England and find old tombstones with
epitaphs and names like Constance Toothacher and Endeavor Bean; people who
lived in Maine over four hundred years ago.
They are not sitting ‘up there in heaven’ or ‘down there in hell.’ They
are forgotten and their bones are rotting in the ground like everyone who ever
lived before them and everyone who has lived after. Their dogs died, their cats died, their horse
died, their cow died, their children died, they died. There is life and there is death – full
stop.
We are here
for a short while and then we are gone. I
can deal with that.
If it were true that your life passes in front
of your face when you die – mine would be a double feature. It has been an interesting run. And every day I have left I intend to live to
the fullest.
the
Ol’Buzzard
With you.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with that too. "The oblivion of eternal sleep"
ReplyDeleteDid you ever notice as you get older or have an accident that shakes you up a bit, you start thinking of your life. What you accomplished, what you didn't and what you still want to get done before you finish your time on earth. I love that your analogy of death was of a Viking biker. Personally, I believe all bikers are Vikings in their soul.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Freya comes to take me away in her chariot pulled by cats. If that doesn't happen? Meh. There is a certain freedom in aging. A life sentence becomes much less of a deterrence, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteAh, there’s just so much I didn’t do, and probably won’t now. If only I had become an atheist 20 years sooner....I find myself panicked all the time, basically. Even though I know it’s stupid and a waste of the little time I have, and psychic energy.
ReplyDelete