Life and death are closely related

This archived article was written by: Angela Oliver

Life is a funny thing. At times one may become so depressed all they want to do is die and when they think they might die, they want nothing more than to live. It is times like this when we truly appreciate what the world and life have to offer us.
Life and death are closely related, people pass between the two every day and nobody pays attention until it is someone they love, or themselves. Isn’t it sad that as human beings we are so selfish? We only pay attention to death and life when death is affecting us.
The saying “we are dying from the day we are born” is an interesting idea to think about. We die a bit everyday, nobody thinks about it until their time is almost out. If we all knew and accepted the fact that we are constantly dying we might not take life for granted and the concept of death might not be so scary.
If we treated every day as though it were our last, think of the things we could accomplish, think of the way we would present ourselves differently and how we would appreciate our own and others’ lives more. We would be sure to let others know how we feel about them and we would live our lives with no regrets. If our generation were to change their mindset now and live life as though we were to die tomorrow, think of what a successful, groundbreaking generation we would become.
In my experience neither being close to death, nor wanting to die are pleasant experiences, but at least being close to death makes appreciate my life. Why does it take the fear of death to get us to be grateful for what we have? Why do people get depressed over small things and then when they come close to death, the only thing that should make us depressed, it is what actually makes us appreciate what we have?
Some of the happiest people anyone will ever meet are cancer patients. They have something to be depressed about: their hair is falling out, they are losing weight, they have to go to treatment that they know drains their energy and makes them sick and some days they are so exhausted they cannot even get out of bed. Their health is a rollercoaster, and they have no control over it, yet they are so thankful to be alive.
That is not to say that they don’t get down at times. They have a little bit of depression from time to time, but know what is important. Life, family, friends, even pets are what is essential, what the rest of the world finds important like money, fame and popularity are just not as important to them.
In the end, we can all learn a lesson from these people. We ought to value what is really important in our lives rather than focusing on wealth and fame. As human beings, we should not have to experience a brush with death to truly value our lives, it should come automatically.