Hi Death.
Hey.
How’s it goin’?
Oh, same old, same old.
Imagine so.
So, you wanted to see me?
Not really. OK, no more than anyone else, right?
Right. I hear from lots of people every day. What’s the problem?
Just tired, I guess. I think I’ve seen all this world I wanna see, done all I wanna do. Nothing to look forward to. I just don’t like the times I live in now.
You sound depressed not suicidal.
Aren’t they the same, I mean, in the end?
Depression is life itself.
Huh. Death, I never thought of it that way. Seems we think everything’s supposed to be one big party of happiness, we don’t know how to deal with the long stretches of ‘nothing special going on.’
That’s right. I hear that a lot … for centuries … since the beginning. You wouldn’t believe the people I hear from who are alive right now. They have everything going for them: looks, health, job, family, home, money, lots of things. And still, they’re just not happy.
I get it. Guess I always suspected such. Happiness comes from within. I should know that by now.
But you forget. I hear ya.
The older I get, the longer the slumps, the darker the path. You know what I mean?
Where I’m at, it’s lights out, totally dark.
Oh yeah.
C’mon! You aren’t ready to be with me. Cheer up! You got lots going for you. I know. Make a list of all the good things you still want to do.
Before you and I go waltzing off into my final sunset?
Yeah! Always liked your dark sense of humor. My style.
Takes one to know one.
Then after you check over your list, don’t put off anything because of money or the feeling of no hope for money. Think more magically. Or like you think, more mystically. Envision you living your best life on earth. And don’t forget to enjoy the gifts—and you have a lot of them— all around you. Life is lived in the Now.
Mmm. Very Zen. You read what I read.
You know me, girlfriend. I know who I’m talking to.
And remember, you have more to do with the end than I do. The time, the circumstances, the age, the place. I just come collecting when you’re ready. Not the other way around.
See, Death, that’s hard for me to believe. There are so many who suffer and then die. I think if they had something to hold on to, like a cure or surgery, they would have endured. We celebrate that life-affirming story all the time. That gives us hope, not the other way around, the final goodbye.
You’re looking at this all wrong. First, life is for learning. You don’t learn anything during the good times. Second, no one lives forever. Third, life is the hardest thing you’ll ever do.
Life is the hardest thing we’ll ever do. So it’s like we’re doing time on earth, like a prison sentence?
Is that how you wanna think about your time on earth?
Some people live their lives that way. I never wanted to think of mine as a prison sentence. I want to be optimistic, but I get down sometimes, especially when things aren’t going my way.
It’s only human. Don’t beat yourself up. You’re one of the most optimistic people I know, and I know everybody who is and ever was.
OK, so I’m optimistic, a dreamer, and I’m not the only one. That doesn’t mean I’m … happy with the way life is going right now. Sometimes life is harder to live than other times. It seems there are roadblocks, personality conflicts, situations I am not in control of.
Where’d you get all that psycho babble? In control? Life is like one long crazy roller coaster ….
OK, OK. I get the metaphors about life. I think my problem is more about society, American society, modern times, media, social media—my era. The message engrained since maybe TV, color TV, is how neat and clean life should be, could be, can be. My generation and my parents’ and the younger ones have spent most of our lives watching life: dramas and comedies, characters, other times, other places. Wait. That’s it! Isn’t it, Death? That’s the reason for a collective depression: spending the majority of our waking hours watching other people do stuff. That’s the problem! And it leads to overwhelming sadness within each of us.
Well, that’s very insightful.
And the best thing is we can solve it! Just monitor our time spent ‘watching’ life and spend most of our time ‘doing’ life! Wow, I’ve had an epiphany, don’t you think? And, I owe it all to you. Death, you are the best listener a human can have.
OK, I wouldn’t go that far.
No, no, really, people should appreciate you, how close you are to each of us, with us like a shadow each and every day we live and breathe. Why, you’re nothing to fear at all!
Now, hold on, I have a reputation to maintain. I like a little fear in my human beings.
Yeah, but the fear leads most of us to keep on living, to choose life! Oh, how life affirming a talk with Death can be!
Shhhh! See YOU later.
Much later! (Wink)