Death

By Tommy Acosta

Sedona, AZ —My mother died two years ago today. We all knew her as Mamasita, and she loved Sedona so.

We have all experienced the death of a loved one, and always, the question arises, why?

It’s so final. One minute they are here, and the next they are gone.

What is the meaning of this life anyway if it inevitably ends in death?

Maybe things have to die for new things to be born. Otherwise, the world would choke with no room for the new if the old don’t go.

Death eats life like we do food. Sometimes it gorges, like in Ukraine and some African nations. Other times it gets meager fare. Nonetheless, sooner or later, it takes what it wants.

So, the question arises, is there something waiting for us when we die?

Who or what? Is it our loved ones gone before? Is it our enemies waiting to torture us once again? Is it God and a host of angels?

We just don’t know.

Sure, there are many who talk after being ruled clinically dead who come back to tell us of beautiful sights and pearly gates and all that. But could that be attributed to just oxygen deprivation?

And when we die, do we take our fears and sorrows with us to forever be tormented by our failures and pain?

And for those who led happy lives, do they forever enjoy the fruits they planted of goodness and love?

Or is there simply nothing? Just a void of darkness void of anything at all? Like when we are under anesthesia. Blank.

But one thing is for sure; in the physical plane, death is the final frontier.

Once they are gone, they are gone. Once we go, we never return. Unless you are Christ.

So, when those we love pass, it’s the memory of them that sustains us. We think of them, and sometimes we smile. Other times we cry. The fact remains, though, that they are gone, and that is that.

The faithful have this belief in a Heaven or Hell that awaits us all. If they pray enough, Heaven is there as a reward. If not, then eternal Hell and suffering is their just punishment. According to scripture.

Does anyone die completely as long as there is someone still alive to remember them?

I think the biggest question of all is if there is anything at all left of one after they die? Is there a record of that person’s existence written somewhere in the universe

Then there is the belief in reincarnation. Do we come back oblivious to the life we once left as the person that we once were?

Do we re-learn lessons on our path to cosmic enlightenment in the new body we jumped into

If we led a life of evil, hurting others, do we suffer payment for that in our reincarnated body?

Vice versa, if we led a kind and good life during our prior reincarnation, are we rewarded with a blessed new one?

Just thinking today of my mother. Forgive the melancholy. It’s also quite uncanny, quite a coincidence that she dies on her own mother’s birthday, September 7. Did her mom, my grandma, know her daughter was departing and was waiting to bring my mother to her new heavenly home? That’s a nice thought.

All these questions and so few answers, answers that come only in death.