The Certainty of Death

We have no personal experiences of death. But we are sure that sooner or later we will die. Our knowledge of our death may not be experiential, but it is with certainty - perhaps the only certainty we can speak of - that we will die. We are certain about our death because history attests that no one who had lived in the far past still exists today. We are also certain about death because science tells us that anything that comes also goes. That nothing remains the same forever. We are certain about death because we see people die. We have old people die, young people too. The sick people die as well as the healthy ones. Some people die in the battlefields, some die in their own homes, and some inside their mothers' wombs. The poor and the rich, the frustrated, and the successful are destined to die. Death does not choose our age, our physical condition, or our position in life.

Death, it is said, is the greatest equalizer in life. The politicians and the religious cannot aspire for more power than what is inscribed in their epitaphs. The poor and the rich possess no more lands than six feet below the ground. No one can claim supremacy over death. All have to bow down their heads and be ready to face their ultimate destiny. Everyone dies. It is an ultimate truth, a truth that no one can deny and no one defy. The unfortunate thing about this truth, however, is that it remains to be revealed.