If there is one thing that has become increasingly evident in 2020, it is that as a society, we have lost touch with a fundamental reality of life; if we live, we will die. We have come to fear death so much, that sane rational people attempt to reduce the risk of their early deaths to zero. This is pure madness.
I was recently reminded of this phenomenon while watching a video on YouTube with the greatest self defense quote machine alive today, Clint Smith. He said something along the lines of when I’m gone, they’re going to turn me into dust and take me out with the trash. His words, were those of a man completely at ease with his mortality.
We have made remarkable strides reducing risk of an early death in most modern countries. That is a noble undertaking. A fascinating fact that not many people know is that the average life expectancy across time periods for those that reach the age of 6-7 has remained fairly stable. Why have we seen life expectancy averages climb so much lately? Because we have made incredible advances in preventing infant mortality. People living into their 70’s, 80’s or 90’s throughout history is nothing new; it’s the majority of people surviving childhood that is the revolution.
There have also been incredible leaps of safety in so many areas of our lives. The improvements of safety in cars is nothing short of miraculous. In 2017, accidents (of all kinds) was the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. Imagine if we were all still riding around without seat belts, air bags and crush zones designed for the sole purpose of increasing chances of surviving a crash.
Every man dies, but not every man really lives
Braveheart
An interesting side effect of the improvements in safety in our lives, is that death has become a much more abstract concept for many of us. In a time before funeral homes, when infant mortality was high, safety as primary concern was unheard of and the number of terminal illnesses were much greater, people were around and/or much more intimately involved with death.
Death is something that happens, but we are rarely forced to confront it outside of obvious cases. We forget that it is always lurking and looking for us. Those that consider how thing the veneer of civilized society truly is, routinely confront the possibility that there are people that have no qualms about death, and are willing to risk it for gain, at our expense. The oblivious masses ignore these plain facts and demand the fallacy of absolute safety.
The dichotomy here, is that the #1 cause of death in 2017 was Heart Disease. The cure is to literally eat better, stop gorging on sugar, and get off our fat asses and exercise. The fact that we are more comfortable dying of laziness, than taking basic steps to improve our health is revealing. We don’t want the responsibility of saving ourselves. No, instead we demand that others protect us and keep us safe. We demand that the burden of our survival rests on others. 2020 has made that abundantly clear. The demands of zero risk, at zero cost have rung loudly across America.
If we do not alter our course and rediscover our yearning for a life fully lived and restore the proper perspective of death, I fear that as a society we are doomed. Doomed to live under the thumb of Karen’s everywhere, that will deny us lives worth living. All while granting the Karen’s the control they crave and ensures the ongoing safe, empty existence that they prefer..
“When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”
Tecumseh
Death comes for us all. We can live in fear of that moment, or we can acknowledge it’s ever presence. We can take steps to harden ourselves, prepare ourselves and to protect ourselves, to ensure that we maximize our time on this mortal plane. Stop demanding that others prioritize your safety, while you sit on a couch eating ice cream. Some of use want to live, so please get the hell out of our way.
Further Reading: The article linked below is an excellent take on the subject and served as a great reminder to me when I found it. It is also the source of this post’s headline.
