Waiting on Death

As this is my first blog post, I thought I would lay some foundation by explaining the title of my blog, and my reasoning behind it. First the name:

Waiting on Death

My colleagues at work usually assume I'm busy when they approach me (at their expense), so the first question out of their mouths when they talk to me is to say, "What are you doing?" I get asked this all the time. This is usually answered by me saying, "Waiting on death," which usually causes the other person to laugh (I guess they think I'm joking). Then they ask me whatever they had on their mind to begin with.

Why do I respond thus? Because, I think people are like Alzheimer's patients in a waiting room who have forgotten what they are waiting for and why they are waiting. All they know is the waiting room, though, so they look for things to do to fill time until whatever happens happens. These are the things we distract ourselves with daily - television, the internet, family, friends, church, school, religion, careers, your legacy, you name it: these things we fill our lives with to provide meaning are nothing but temporal distractions while we wait on death. One thing I've learned about life is that everything shall come to pass, meaning one day it will all be over. Nothing is permanent but the act of waiting on death, and even that too shall come to pass when all life ends.

Some people might disagree with this point of view, and say that there is more to life than waiting; I don't disagree with this argument, but underlying all else is the wait. Whether or not you are conscious of the fact that you are waiting does not change the reality of it. Born again Christians believe that once Jesus comes into your heart, you can never truly die, you will live forever in Heaven with Jesus. I am not debating this, or turning this into a religious argument advocating one point of view over another - the fact remains that, whether the soul dies upon physical death or not does not have a bearing on the fact that, physically, your body will die at some point and until then, one way or another, you are conscripted to wait just like everyone else. All life everywhere is conscripted to wait in this waiting room, whether it is advanced enough to realize it or not.

Therefore, when I say that I am waiting on death, it is neither a death wish nor a cop out, but simply the truth.

Thus is the nature of life.