Presentations & Death

            While listening to Joellen’s and Lexi’s presentation today, my ears perked up when Joellen began to talk about how, when we near death in our lives, or really in every facet in our life, we should accept, and be dignified in death because it is the one thing every human will experience. No matter who you are, you will die. From Oprah to the homeless man in Detroit, everyone will die. At this juncture, I made a connection to a past experience. When I visited Rome, my family and I went to the Capuchin Crypt where all the decorations were made of bones from monks that had died. It was a grim scene. Chandeliers, fireplaces, picture frames, pictures, etc. were all made of real human bones. Despite the initial shock, it was really quite beautiful in terms of the message it presented. Within the crypt was a plaque that read, "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be..."

            This quote embodies one of the points Joellen was trying to get across: everyone dies. The phrase from the Capuchin Crypt essentially means at the end of the day, when we all die, the playing field is equal, no matter how rich or poor you are. An additional theme that can be derived from the message in the Capuchin Crypt is the idea of carpe diem, which means to live in the moment. Because death is the looming known, yet unknown event in our lives, we should spend our days living in the present instead of fixating on past or future events. It is a very powerful concept. Carpe diem doesn’t mean to go paint the town red, but simply implies to focus on what is occurring around you.

            One of the Joellen’s points I disagreed with was when she said we should try to die on our own terms, and to die with dignity. The reason I diverged from her on this particular point is because we NEVER know when we are going to leave this life. For all I know, it could be tonight or tomorrow in fourth hour. We will never know when our final moment is going to be so to say we should die on our own terms is a bit improbable. As humans, we can never control when our own body or an outside force decides to end our life, except for suicide, of course.