Respect for life means respect for death
I had a little chat with a friend who wishes to start a school with a
radically different approach to education. In the course of our discussion he mentioned
'accountability' towards children (students). Here's what I jotted down later:
The phenomenon called 'death' must be understood as we talk of accountability. What are we when we are accountable? What does it mean to be answerable? To whom? If caring means preventing danger, to what extent can one care? Does it mean preventing death, 'the ultimate danger' according to man?
It is only when we fully accept the probability of death - without seeking it or inventing it - that we can love life. It may seem heart-wrenching, it may seem a terrible loss but we are more interested in escaping what we feel. We never learn to live in presence of death. We endure all of life's travails but constantly deny the inherent risk in being alive, and the inevitable end. Thus life becomes a circus. Ageing becomes a pathetic affair.
I have seen huge branches of healthy trees being hacked off - they mustn't fall on the street, on us! Why not be more attentive, why not watch our way? Why not put up a "Please leave this fellow alone!'' board on the vulnerable trees? And if a branch does fall on someone, it was unfortunate but why not let it pass? We can help the poor guy out, help their family. Villagers kill a tiger, a wolf because they took their cattle. We may have the cattle, we feed them but they do not belong to us. We do not own them. We do not own a thing. It sounds strange, but it must be understood if we are to coexist in harmony.
We go on breeding in an overpopulated world, we create deplorable living conditions for each other, we prepare for world war all the time yet if someone chooses to quietly end their life we stop them. What do we know?
Profound sensitivity becomes impossible in an overcrowded world where we constantly try to debar death. We wish to in peace, in beauty, with joy but it can work only through graceful acceptance of death: end of a life which was part of vaster life.
So, respect for life means respect for death. Accountability for life means accountability for death - without seeking, inventing death. Without standing in its way.
The phenomenon called 'death' must be understood as we talk of accountability. What are we when we are accountable? What does it mean to be answerable? To whom? If caring means preventing danger, to what extent can one care? Does it mean preventing death, 'the ultimate danger' according to man?
It is only when we fully accept the probability of death - without seeking it or inventing it - that we can love life. It may seem heart-wrenching, it may seem a terrible loss but we are more interested in escaping what we feel. We never learn to live in presence of death. We endure all of life's travails but constantly deny the inherent risk in being alive, and the inevitable end. Thus life becomes a circus. Ageing becomes a pathetic affair.
I have seen huge branches of healthy trees being hacked off - they mustn't fall on the street, on us! Why not be more attentive, why not watch our way? Why not put up a "Please leave this fellow alone!'' board on the vulnerable trees? And if a branch does fall on someone, it was unfortunate but why not let it pass? We can help the poor guy out, help their family. Villagers kill a tiger, a wolf because they took their cattle. We may have the cattle, we feed them but they do not belong to us. We do not own them. We do not own a thing. It sounds strange, but it must be understood if we are to coexist in harmony.
We go on breeding in an overpopulated world, we create deplorable living conditions for each other, we prepare for world war all the time yet if someone chooses to quietly end their life we stop them. What do we know?
Profound sensitivity becomes impossible in an overcrowded world where we constantly try to debar death. We wish to in peace, in beauty, with joy but it can work only through graceful acceptance of death: end of a life which was part of vaster life.
So, respect for life means respect for death. Accountability for life means accountability for death - without seeking, inventing death. Without standing in its way.
Hmm, I liked all the paragraphs, and the title too.
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