After writing that last post about leaving lasting impressions it became painfully clear what I needed to talk about next; it's utterly unavoidable and as much as we try to ignore it, it remains the 5 ton elephant in the room. This elephant in question's name is none other than Death. Death surrounds us all, affects us all, and terrifies us all, and rightfully so. Self-preservation is hardwired into each and every one of us and is what makes us cling so dearly to our existences. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, au contraire, we should all prize our lives because it is the most precious commodity we have. I'm just saying that it's time we stop avoiding the 5 ton elephant in the room and face it directly...
To be honest I wasn't even planning on writing a post today and my next post definitely wasn't going to be the one I'm about to write. All it took was one comment to change all of that, and it's been nagging at me all week. I think that's what I'm starting to fall in love with about this blog, the community aspect. I love that things that people have said to me have changed the way I view things and have opened my eyes to viewpoints that I never would've known otherwise. This blog is as much yours as it is mine, I'm simply the outlet; take advantage of it. In case you don't know which comment in particular I'm talking about, it came in my previous post where I asked everybody what their greatest fears were. It got the votes I'd expect heights/small spaces, but one comment from someone very close to me, and in all honesty someone I didn't expect a comment to come from, stuck with me the most. That commenter was my older brother, a firefighter in the Air Force, and if you haven't read it then you should take a second and check it out because it really took me back; so much so that I had to let it sit there for a day before I could think of a good response...