Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
How many people do you know who have died? Like, people you interacted with and knew--not celebrities, friends of friends, or relatives who died before you were born.
I just came up with 24 names, including three from the Cellar (Sundae, Brianna, and LadySycamore.) Obviously the number skyrockets as you get older, but for a 37-year-old that seems like a lot. Is it?
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I have studiously avoided this thread. And now, I see my friends, and others, have posted here. The prospect of the mortality of the people I know, people I love--my *own* mortality, has become a moving force in my life recently.
It feels like a biiiig swell in the ocean. I'm close enough to the beach to see the shore, but the energy of the indifferent ocean moves me up, up, then slides away. I've seen these swells before, I've seen the waves break. I know one day the crest will loom over me like a shroud and I'll have the irresistible urge to paddle and thrash and maybe I'll make it through the wave...
But I know the exertion will make my fight against the next, inevitable, inexorable, implacable wave futile. I'll be tossed and tumbled, my airless screams unheard until they burst from my lungs in a stream of silvery bubbles, trailing away, into the light.
Yes, Clodfobble, that's a lot. Still, the waves outnumber us.