Posted by:
elderolddog
(
)
Date: May 29, 2021 02:40PM
Death comes with such finality...and it's such a ... boogieman'.
There was once a time, and many of you will confirm it, when your mother told you you couldn't go back outside after an evening bath because your hair was still wet, and going outside with wet hair would literally kill you!
Many of our fears have over time been assuaged... But death still remains the boogieman it's always been. While it may be an escape to some under various and sundry situations, for the vast majority of us, it is an unwelcome intrusion.
(In one of Robert A. Heinlein's Sci/Fi novels, he postulates that a naturally occurring 'death-preventer' gene would make humans carrying that gene loathed and despised by the rest of humanity. You know, a jealousy thing...)
Death is likely to be a very simple and personal act, but it can have an intense public effect.
Many people genuinely do not fear death, while to others, it is literally the worst thing in the world, as they consider the breadth and scope of their lives.
One of the major appeals to religion are the explanations given to what happens at death. People grow up being fed stories and soon the possibility that NOTHING happens to the individual after death becomes abhorrent. "Surely the Universe dares not to continue to exist without ME!?! What would be the point!!!!"
I think it is not an unwarranted observation that the majority of active participants on RfM have lived over 50% of their lives. In other words, the majority of us here are coasting towards our graves. And from what I've observed, there aren't any of us here who are eager to get there: dead.
We all know that our days are numbered, but not with the exactitude of our dear Heidi. I mentioned in her thread her very apparent equanimity, and it's worth making note of it again, and envying her that strength.
Okay, so back to the normal me... Here's how I want to check out. This is from the Anaheim Millennial Star & Good Times:
"After the alien spaceship touched down in the main Disneyland parking lot, there was an eerie silence. And then all hell broke loose! 98% of the people and cars tried to increase their distance from the landing site and 2% headed for the alien craft.
"Sitting there in the parking lot, it now looked like a rumpled jumble of jagged building blocks, low at the edges and building up higher towards the middle of the awkward square of its outline.
"There was nothing coming from the ship; no sounds, no movement, no sensations at all ... it sat silent.
"Then a vehicle, southbound on Harbor Blvd., turned right, into the parking lot and slowly approached the behemoth craft. The vehicle, a newer Nissan Frontier, red, with golf clubs in the bed of the pick-up, angled toward the southeast corner of the craft and stopped about 10 feet from that corner.
"The driver, a male Hispanic, possibly Cheech Marin, based on descriptions given by witnesses, moved from the driver's side of the vehicle towards the craft. When he got to the nearest point of the craft, he reached out and touched the nearest portion of the craft. Upon his touch, the surface 'flowed' from the shape it had held, into a lowered, smooth, three to four-foot-wide surface. It was obviously a pathway, and the man walked forward and up the path, which continued to 'flow' into existence as he ascended.
"When the path reached the top of the craft, an elevation about even with the top of the Disneyland Matahorn ride according to witnesses, the Cheech Marin-like man turned and waved, apparently to his truck!, and then disappeared from view.
"A few minutes later a mechanical arm of some kind extended from the edge of the craft nearest the pickup truck and picked up the golf bag and disappeared back into the side of the craft, which then slowly rose and then paused at a height of a few feet. After this pause, it began to accelerate straight up, and by the time civil and military radars tracked it leaving the Earth's atmosphere, it was accelerating at over 10 G's per three-minute egg-timer and was soon lost to view.
"The ID of the Cheech Marin-like man was obviously easily obtained by Earth authorities from the truck left behind, but authorities have refused to release the man's identity, saying that to do so would jeopardize, in their words, "...good taste and careful breeding..."
Since we all gotta go, how do you want to go, v. how will you probably go?