Tag Archives: Death

Some straight answers, please

It was a lot less complicated when we were younger. If we had questions we asked them. And crucially, we accepted the answer we were given! How can Santa visit all the homes of the world? Magic. How come nuns don’t have babies? They are holy! Where has granny gone? Heaven. And we all looked upwards! That innocence was like a protective barrier to entertaining any darker thoughts or worries.

As we grow older we become more unsettled. We start to think about life. We begin to notice that we do not have all the answers (or more importantly the answers that we have carried with us for so long no longer do). A lot of the significant people in my life have moved on. Both my parents are dead. A lot of my aunts and uncles have left this world too. Yesterday my wonderful godmother breathed her last breath.

I want to believe that life does not end with the last breath. I want to believe that this life is more intelligent than that. But there is no scientific evidence of an afterlife. Most religions entertain the notion that there is a life of some form after this one. But was that man’s attempt to create his own answer to a question he cannot answer?

Maybe it is the scientist in me. Maybe it is because I am older. Or because I am hurting as some of the people I love most move on. But it would be lovely to have a straight answer, wouldn’t it?