Death and Mere Separation

Once I wrote about death and the inability of the mind to fully comprehend it...

I think that finality is the underlying issue.

People seek closure. But how much does it really matter? The mind goes on...



It's like leaving a friend. You can't imagine that you'll never see them again, however unlikely it seems that you would meet sometime in the future.

Your mind keeps insisting that there's something between a miraculous or hard-worked for reunion and... an ending. Because such an ending is unthinkable.

The Eveny avoid the finality of farewell. Don't expect a goodbye from them... in the same way, the thought of never seeing Lucía, or Stephanie, or Liisa again... it's unthinkable. Stephanie I will see for a while, as long as we both have roots in St. Louis. And Lucía I will see at Thanksgiving. And maybe... maybe... at Winter Break. And maybe next summer too. But nothing is certain.

After that... For Lucía, for Stephanie, for Liisa... For them I will make an effort. We will probably see each other again. But of course there must be a last time. And this goes both ways. There will even be a last time we see those nearest to us. And then again, what about those lesser friends? The ones we won't fly halfway around the world to see, and must therefore never see them, but we keep believing... that of course we'll meet again, however unlikely it may be. And even the smallest people, who we wouldn't even call on the phone, but who were part of our lives...

But the dear friends are the hardest.

Because how do you close the book on relationships that keep living in hearts and minds?

It's literally, simply unthinkable.