Death

Death is the topic here. I told a friend I’m writing a piece on Death and he balked at the darkness of the topic. Typical. I’ve been contemplating the hold that death has over us. So powerful!

I’ve seen the photos of the Egyptian lynched in Lebanon. The link to the photos had a strict warning of explicitness and goriness. I didn’t feel particularly shocked by the photos. Have I become so jaded or is it my peculiar penchant for darkness? However, the responses were overwhelming. People seem to be particularly indignated by the things that the Lebanese crowd committed after the Egyptian’s death! I wonder which is crueler. Cutting a person while alive or while dead? Both are acts of ruthlessness. Torturing a living person seems far crueler to me though. I maintain to view these incidents in light of human capabilities; that is to say animal capabilities. Humans are somewhat evolved animals!

Death has been a theme for the last few days. My mother has expressed her feelings of impending mortality. A seminar on organ trafficking in Egypt touched upon the sacred, forceful hold of death over Egyptians; the things that impedes the notion of postmortem organ donation. What would it matter if someone cuts you up after your death? It’s just a corpse anyway.

Another incident showed how death alters people good sense. A young man died. He was allegedly brainy and courteous. Most importantly he was good looking. Very good looking. This is an important piece of information because the setting where the incident took place was on the virtual sphere; the internet. The handsome boy who died in a car accident was grieved online, by means of a facebook page. The response was too irrational for my bearing. The info bit of the page said it was dedicated to the best, sweetest, smartest and most beautiful man Egypt has ever known. Seriously?

I don’t know if it was the shock of death news or whatever else, but that was so disproportionate. Was it the death factor?

To be continued…