Memento Mori
‘‘The chessboard of life. A game rigged against you. Failure is inevitable. Pain is inevitable. Despair is inevitable. Our bodies yearn for the earth, almost. Humans cant help but… die.’’
‘‘What is the point, then? If we are all destined to fall. If life is nothing but a fleeting thing. Why do we so desperately hold on to a mirage induced by our suffering?’’ The Philosopher speaks his words and the crowd applauds loudly. Some are in tears, others are in silent rejoice over the academic confirmation of their inherent weakness, but their faces say it all. The Philosopher, under the burning stage light, holds his hand up to silence the crowd. ‘‘We are all anxious, afraid, looking for more in a desperate world. Every time we try and move a piece on the board we lose it, and death gets another step closer. But we do not take easy to death, so much so that we have developed a gluttonous desire for immortality. A desire that burns so deeply, its impossibility so grand, that we are prepared to risk our precious lives to attain it. But imagine you woke up tomorrow, and you were able to move a piece on your board. Death is halted.’’
The Philosopher looks around the grand theatre hall. It’s Filled from side to side. The theatre sold extra ‘standing tickets’ to make the most out of the Philosopher’s Once in a lifetime tour, making people stand in the walkways and on the stairs leading out of the hall. He takes a moment. The Philosopher does not allow any form of documentation at his very rare shows. Phones are taken away at the door and picked up after, no writing, no pens, no journalists. No one even knows who he is, but he continues nonetheless. ‘‘Death is halted. Finally. You are immortal. But… you have spent your entire, tiring existence doing nothing but wishing for immortality. Wishing to spend eternity living, though you never understood what that meant. In fact, you never lived, you spent your existence slowly, very slowly, dying. And now it dawns on you. You have not the slightest clue what to do with an eternity of life. You never understood sacrifice, pain, tolerance, empathy, or art. You were busy fighting the impossible. You were ungrateful for the lessons you had been given. You are nothing but a shortsighted, instinctively emotional creature that now, ironically, sees no end. You have not spent your days improving. Learning. Failing. Feeling. Becoming better. Becoming worthy of eternity. You spent your life wishing for something impossible, not because you wanted it, but because you knew it couldn’t happen, and it was easier to fake resistance to the impossible, than to actually stand up against it, because who would blame you for not doing the impossible? It was easier to pretend you wanted eternal life, and not do the work it takes, and now that it’s here, you are utterly screwed. Life is pain. Because pain teaches love and compassion. Life is failure, because failure teaches humility. Life is suffering, because suffering teaches patience. Life is death, because death teaches life. Life is death, and you are now a dead man walking.’’
The crowd is silent. The Philosopher smiles. This always happens, he thinks to himself. ‘‘Remember death my friends, he might be the only one that wants to see you live.’’
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