Actually the new, delayed Bond film is called ‘No Time To Die’. But the title got me thinking…. when is the best time to die? Is it when you finally pay off the mortgage so you know your family and spouse will be provided for, maybe its quietly in your sleep when you are very old, perhaps the day before a large bill needs paying?
In secondary school we did statistics, and how to work out an average. The mode meant the most popular or frequent time something occurred. Maybe 2020 was a more frequent time to die.
I was thinking of people I knew who passed a few years earlier. And the sense of an individual being the only person in a friendship group or circle, who was facing terminal illness. There was space for the person to receive support. It seemed awful though.
Maybe its in an unexpected accident or something that suddenly puts the full stop on you as a person. Some people who have concussions and find themselves in a coma say they don’t remember anything except one minute having a normal life and then after some dreamlike nightmares waking up in a hospital ward.
I had a counsellor who asked me to discuss my own death and how I felt about it. I said I didn’t want to talk about death, but perhaps look out for the bus was the most likely challenge in my own sense of safety. Yes large turning vehicles seemed to me at the time to be the biggest risk in my life as I’m often rushing around on foot in congested or urban spaces.
I volunteered for a while at Arnos Vale Cemetery where we were cutting back the brambles and tidying up the grounds. I learned that the rolled up paper meant either a life with lots of years (thick rolled up parchment) or a short page meant a life that ended too early.
I guess I would say the best time to die to when you have done all the things you felt you wanted to do with your life, perhaps you set out your course in life and completed it. Its not a nice thing to dwell on, but maybe my counsellor was right, that sometimes its worth thinking about, as it could help us be more aware of the chances life gives us and determine to live our best lives. 🙂
