At times, I have a morbid fascination in the darker sides of humanity.
I enjoy visiting old cemetaries if my travels take me past one.
In particular, I like seeing how old the person was and the years they lived in.
It would have been a life of change, being born in the 1800's, and to die in the 1900's.
All of the technological changes that would have impacted how they lived, what they saw, and the amount of information they would have processed.
But no matter the era. They all ended up in the same place.
Whether they were old or young, rich or poor, happy or sad ... in the end it doesn't matter. Everything in between were just filling in time.
You play with the cards you're dealt. You may lose cards or gain cards. Somtimes, you think you have cards but they aren't there. Or you believe you have no cards, to realise too late, that you had more up your sleeve.
Not everyone will agree that you have the cards you say you have.
But deep down you hope to meet people who, together, can make each other's cards better.
“Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause, there's the respect, That makes calamity of so long life” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
There is something comforting about death. To know that at some point this bag of flesh ends and we enter our next phase.
Don't worry. There is a next phase. But, don't be in a rush to find out.
We have more to learn while we are here.
Or, maybe, we already know what we need to learn. We've just forgotten exactly what it is - we are still waking from a forgotten dream.
Just remember to breathe. Give yourself a moment, or two.
You deserve it. Even, if you think you don't.
Blessed are old people who plant trees knowing that they shall never sit in the shade of their foliage. Those who plant trees, knowing that only others will enjoy the shade, are public benefactors.