The problem with death is that, for many of us, the inevitability that we all acknowledge is one that we wish to postpone and therefore choose to ignore. Especially when we are in our early years, the old (as we see them) are the ones who need to think about death, not us. We are immune from death, we are the immortal ones.
As time goes on the picture changes. There are many in their forties who suddenly discover mortality. It has in fact been creeping up on them for some while but they have chosen to pretend not to see it and remain lost in the cosy eiderdowns of 'the gym' and 'abroad.' Then one morning the first muscle pain, tendon ache or worry line refuses to disappear and mortality has posted its first outrider on the previously pristine lawn of our lives and refuses to budge.
Even now, for many, there is no sense of urgency in the situation. We persuade ourselves all to easily that 'it will go away'. The 'twinge' does indeed disappear but then returns bringing a friend and soon the immaculate greensward in which we took so much youthful pride contains the deckchair of our autumn days
Yet even now few wish to consider seriously the implications of and options associated with our mortality. This is despite our being so well placed to recognise that the black and white certainties of youth now reveal many shades of grey if we can bear to acknowledge them for a moment or two.
A perspective on this certainty that there is nothing to consider is that the winter of our lives gives us pointers to the sunlight of spring and a new beginning if we choose to see them. We do however have to lift our sights and look beyond the mere dullness of the winter day we were expecting. There is the need to choose to dream the dream of a new dawn breaking on a world in which a belief in nothing will not do. There is far more to both life and death if we dare to see it.
