On The Dialectic Dance Between Life and Death, Living and Dying

Freud doesn't seem so outrageous anymore. The older I get the more it doesn't seem so stupid to talk about a 'life instinct' vs. a 'death instinct'. Oxygenation vs. oxidation. We need oxygen to live and we need to 'burn energy to live' but the toxic bi-product of oxygenation and burning energy is 'oxidation' -- which eventually leads to dying and death the more we age and the more we are deficient in all the proper 'anti-oxidants', vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, essential fatty acids, liquids, rest, and exercise that we need to live.

Death can strike suddenly or death can sneak up on us slowly one day at a time. The older we get the more it becomes important to do the 'right' things to preserve and/or enhance our health. There reaches a point where we start to realize that 'death is chasing us' -- I had one friend tell me that. He is only months removed from a heart attack so he knew what he was talking about. Mistakes in proper nutrition, mistakes in judgment relative to our health may not seem so important when we are young and seemingly invulnerable.

But over time life has less and less toleration for 'health errors'. Sometimes it only takes one critical slip up to bring this message home. Other times, it might require a number of slip-ups if life grants us that many chances. Or it may take a 'slow, concerted slip-up over time' to realize that we are not invulnerable, not invincible.

To age and age happily with dignity is a blessing -- a second friend told me that. What we do with that blessing comes from us -- it can only come from us.

I am reminded of an old 'Hot Tuna' song that comes back to haunt me ever so often, sometimes in an unhealthier moment or after a fresh tragedy has struck: 'Death Don't Have No Mercy In This Land'.

What we do with the blessing of life comes from us -- it can only come from us.

-- dgb, April 18th, 2008.