II. Death Defined

II. Death Defined

If there would be one event that, historically and universally, binds mankind together, it would be no other than death. Death is something we all must face—no diet control and no amount of money can avoid it. The fact is undeniable that sooner or latter in the end of this life journey here on Earth, the time would come when the funeral curtains closes and death visits us.

According to http://www.medterms.com (2007) Death is the event when our physical body stops its operation of giving us life.

This is the event when our vital organs stop its vital functions. Death occurs to humans when the absence of spontaneous respiratory and cardiac functions occurs. There are so many ways that a person could die; there are so many ways that we can avoid death but this is a fact that we humans should not ignore: that we are all destined to die.

When I was still in my high school days I had this very traumatic experience that made me realize how real death could be. When we had our high school Christmas party at an inland resort in my hometown, I had this almost close encounter with death that has given me a realization to ponder on the reality of death. I was the first to arrive at the resort for our Christmas party. I got excited of enjoying the cold waters so after having a shower, I hurried and jumped into the pool. I was unaware that the area where I jumped was 6.5 feet deep. Being a flat five-footer, back in high school, I don’t know the basics of swimming, it was such a foolish thing for me to be jumping into a pool 6.5 feet deep.

It was a very traumatic struggle in order to live. I tried to yell for help at the same time trying my very best to reach the perimeter of the pool. After a few seconds of struggling for life, one of my classmates came to my rescue and took me out of the cold waters. That time I got speechless and I realize how close I was to death and how real death can be.

Just when I was in my sophomore years of being a college student, I witnessed a road accident that really awakened my senses. It was late in the evening. While I was with some of my friends taking a walk going to my dormitory, we heard a group of noisy motorcycle drivers. They were all having a good time of cheerful laughter when unexpectedly, one of the motorcycle clashed to another motorcycle parking in a near Thai Massage Spa. I witnessed the road accident with my two eyes including the poor drivers of the said motorcycles being rushed to the hospital.

That was an unexpected event that took place that night. We are not sure of when, where and how each one of us will personally die but one thing is indeed sure, we are all going to die. Death can seldom be expected and sometimes it is unexpected. Because of this uncertainty about the time of our personal deaths, death can be very near in our personal lives.

Death is inevitable and often unexpected. You could unexpectedly die when the car you are driving clashes to another car or when a car accidentally gets out of control and you were side swept while you are walking. The point here is that we could die right here, right now without even expecting it. To make the bad news even worse, we are not that ready to die- now that’s where fear of death comes.