Some lives are extremely short and some almost miraculously long. An infant may die at birth, unable to take its first breath, after having spent nine long months in the womb. Another may die from an unexplained death when only a few months old. Parents may spend sixteen or seventeen years raising a child only to lose him in a violent car crash. Adolescent lives may be cut short from a gang related incident.
If a person dies at any point before reaching “old age”, it is considered tragic. Even those who live well into their nineties are often tethered to the earthly plane because loved ones are unwilling to let them go. It is only in recent times that humans have come to look upon death as unfair. For centuries before, we understood that death is part of life. It was accepted that all people – in fact, all things – would eventually die. Whether a person dies of natural or unnatural causes, death is the certainty that many people have come to fear.
It is natural to grieve and to miss someone when they are gone; but to believe that their death was wrong or that it was untimely, puts us in a state of non-acceptance, thus causing us unnecessary suffering. The ego wants to believe that a life should be a certain way and end only when it decides that it should. A short life has served its purpose as completely as a long life. We can prolong life far beyond its purpose, but there is a price to pay. We can keep a heart pumping while the brain turns to mush. If we allow death to happen naturally and honor the life that was lived, knowing that life is infinite, we will find greater peace. Doctors are required to write a cause of death on death certificates, but natural causes are no longer acceptable to the medical community. We will die at the appropriate time for our soul. All death is natural. Many doctors are now contributing cause of death to be due to COVID19, even when it is something entirely different. We can continue to lament what may appear to be unfair, such as a life being too short or someone being taken too soon; but we will all make our exits at the appropriate time.
