Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

At What Point Does Dying Begin?

Today's blog...

Blog City – Day 256

Who can say at what point dying begins?

Another intriguing prompt. Like the conception and life issue, it is thought provoking and may generate some interesting considerations.
I would say it is not over until the fat lady sings... but then there is the concept of being brought back. Remembering my grandfather's illness, I would say dying ends at that moment of the death rattle. The final expellation of breath as the body gives up its last connection to life on earth. I was there when I heard it. Alone. It filled the room, then left complete silence, except what lay beyond as the world continued.

But when does dying begin... that would be personal, I think. If I was thinking negatively, I could even say it begins at birth - each moment a step closer to the end. Life and Death walk together through this world. We never know when out time will come. But I will not go there.

My grandmother, on my father's side this time, had been diagnosed with cancer at the same time as my father. He thought she would die before him... her faith gave her the strength to battle that beast and not give up. She overcome and went into remission. She battled it again and won. It was not until she got Alzheimer's that she lost her faith connection and took the downward spiral into death. Sadly, my father let death take him - his heart told him it was his time to go.

That said, I think it is personal in the sense that each of us has a battle to live or die. If we give up and let it take us, then death wins and we slid that slippery slope into the end of our life as we know it; but if we have strength and conviction that it is not our time, then we battle and 'rage into the dying of the light' (I love that Dylan Thomas line). For those who fight, death and dying does not come until that death rattle sounds - until all fight is gone and silenced.

Some people live lives that reflect death in the living - they drag themselves through the world, just hanging on by their fingernails. Depressed and those suffering from other mental illnesses and drug users come to mind. The only thing that can save them is a resurgence, like a defibrillator - God - His saving grace and mercy, that comes when one of us here on earth reaches out and connects with that person - guiding them back to the flock. We are His hands and feet. We are His heart reflected and shining through us. We are the Salt of the Earth that brings His Word to all and lets Him save their souls.

How we connect is not tied to organized religion per se - it is connection to God, a higher power - whatever belief you follow. If they can connect through you, you can save them and ground them to their spiritual side. That essence of our soul that make us live and love and expand here on earth.

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

Choices!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw