The Brevity of Life

Have you ever stared death in the eyes? You can’t but it can. You can’t see it but you can feel it, lingering, in your nerves, in your heart, weighing it down.

You see the news “3 people dead, 5 people dead, 100 persons dead,” your shock is enormous for the first 2-10 people and the shock curve just levels.

You see it in the movies, read about it, probably dream about it a couple times.

But trust me, you haven’t felt the half of it.

Two steps, i was two steps away, looking at the corpse of a dead man.

For straight 5 minutes, how do you feel?

Looked from his legs, broken, dislocated, glanced further upwards as people were performing chest compressions, trying to resuscitate him.

Ring on his finger, someone’s husband, dad, dead on impact, thrown 50 steps away from the point of impact by a trailer.

Where do your goals and aspirations go when you die?

My leg feels heavy, palms shaking, I think i’m stepping on sand, stained with his blood.

He must’ve done this journey a thousand times, why today? Why when i’m in the car?

Is God trying to tell me he still loves me and i should focus on what matters or did the devil miss that glorious opportunity to finish me once and for all? Shit, bro wants to make impact? LOL!

People die everyday, I’m quite aware of that. It’s quite different when it’s unexpected, doing something you routinely do everyday.

Especially when you’ve just interacted with this person minutes before they see the light.

What’s the cost of a human life?

What’s the cost of all accumulated experiences?

Have you ever lost something so valuable in a second?

I mean—no one plans to die. But… what if we do?

When death has flashed before you, priorities automatically change.

Everyone was acting like it was a normal thing, maybe that’s why i was there.

To understand that things happen for reasons. And this was supposed to remind me that life is more than all the pointless activities that we partake in.

I attended the event, people showing up for an appearance, ladies all dolled up. Had to take the pictures but i was observing, how much of this pretense would matter in the end?

What’s laziness and procrastination when you’ve stared death in the eyes?

What’s grudges and arguments when you’re 2 degrees from total annihilation?

What’s competition and envy when your waist wouldn’t be connected to your legs?

Focus on what matters.

There’s so much you learn from someone that experience wouldn’t teach you x2. And this is the kind of thing you don’t want to experience.

I guess it is a memory and trauma i must carry along on my journey.

So that when I’m loosing focus i remember, dead men don’t tell tales.