Another week is coming to a close. Tell me baby, what's on your mind? The weekend, sweet hot Valentine's Day lovin, happy hour, a Whitman's sampler with a map, hours of uninterrupted sleep, life, the universe and everything? How about death?
Yeah. Death.
I have an odd view on death. Maybe it's because I grew up with a family member who passive aggressively wanted to die her entire life: "I'm dying, even the dog senses it." Who says that? What kind of person replies to a Merry Christmas greeting with "I wish I were dead?" Decades later, she's still alive with the same false wish.
Maybe it's because I think too much and can't base my life around someones take on an old, frequently edited and often interpreted collection of tales - i.e. The Bible.
Maybe because my father told me constantly to question everything.
Maybe because a 150-foot wide asteroid will buzz our swiftly turning planet Friday (today) while everyone is busy surfing the net at work and wondering if Honey Boo Boo's mom is going to join "Dancing With The Stars" or if hottie-hot-hot-stuff Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman is gay (he sings, he dances ... have you seen his scary wife - is she his beard?). People are too busy uploading photos of Valentine's Day roses and chocolates and sharing romantic plans and Tweeting and Facebooking their sweethearts sweet nothings so everyone knows they aren't a loser loner on the Day of Hearts or perhaps, passive aggressively or not so passively, loudly hating the annual holiday because they are a loner Dottie, a rebel. This all reminds me of the beginning to "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."
According to NASA (you know, that important agency politicians don't want to fund), this is the closest documented encounter of an asteroid this large - not counting the ones that made impact with Earth in the past (comforting). The asteroids that buzzed closer were smaller and burned up in the atmosphere, which the rubes of the world love like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Look Brandi and LeAnn, it's magic in the sky!
Did you know a smaller asteroid passed within 140,000 miles of Earth in December or were you too busy Christmas shopping and pretending to believe in God by going to church for the first, and only, time all year?
The big bad asteroid - DA14 - will come within 17,500 miles of Earth - the moon is 238,900 miles away for all you big brains out there. It's capable of blasting a crater equivalent to hundreds of Hiroshima atomic bombs. What's scarier is scientists believe there are tens to hundreds of thousands similar but undiscovered objects - most with dimensions in the hundreds of feet - hurtling through space right this very second.
NASA is confident DA14 will not hit Earth but ... is anyone out there scared? Mr. Herman, paging Mr. Herman, Mr. Herman, you have a telephone call at the front desk. I have read so many complaints and so much praise for President Barack Obama's speech, Speaker of the House John Boehner's dry mouth, Pope Benedict XVI's exit, Kim Kardashian and Kayne West's demon child, Kate Middleton's baby bump controversy, guns guns guns ... what about the asteroid? Bueller? Bueller? Anything other than shtick referencing the movie "Armageddon" ... ?
Oh wait, no one wants to talk about that because it's scary so let's just pretend all is well like Kevin Bacon did in "Animal House."
The asteroid reminds me of death. Not in the obvious way (asteroid hits Earth = we could die) but in its unpredictability, especially with the recent news of a large meteor blowing up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere over Mother Russia - a shockwave shattered windows, rocked buildings and injured hundreds. I could die today. There, I wrote the words and now the thought is real. I can't wrap my head around that, which is probably why I can't wrap my head around all aspects of religion except to love God and your neighbor. Couple this fear of death with the fact something from outer space could hurtle to Earth and kill us all and there's nothing we or Bruce Willis (cue "Armageddon" shtick) can do and I'm feeling a bit uneasy.
So, as I struggle to figure out what happens after death, should I follow the path of many heathens and stop thinking about it because, obviously, it's a given and no one has documented evidence what takes place so philosophizing is pointless. There's nothing I can do to stop an asteroid or a crazed murderer or old age and I can't Highlander-ize myself so I should fuggedaboutit.
Or, is this wonder, this pursuit of knowledge the one thing separating us from other animals. We think, we scrutinize, we wonder, we question - isn't this the meaning of being human? If we stopped wondering, would life lose meaning? Would we become savages? Is there a Heaven free from pain, a hellfire blazing with cruelty and suffering or are we reincarnated like the cycle of the seasons? Or, the option which scares me the most, is there nothing? Lights off, game over, nothing ...
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