on the dignity of dead things

the ancient greeks believed that the worst thing that could happen to a person after death wasn't hell, or hades, but for the person's body to remain unburried. it was a crime against the gods to refuse a dead person the dignity and decency of a burial. that is the reason why achilles was punished by the gods: he mistreated the dead body of hector, refusing to return the body to the grieved father. in a life, you get to see many die: people, animals, a flower, a feeling. and i too believe that the decent thing to do, is to bury them. seeing that it is mostly feelings that lead us in life (yeah, go on fooling yourselves it is reason, if you will), i don't see a reason to treat them with less respect when they die.

i have known people who have mourned a dead friendship. or a dead relationship. or a dead feeling of happiness. the death of a good position in society. the death of the comfort of the nest. you name it. mourning is natural, it is part of the healing process. tears should seal up the scar of the heart and thus allow it to heal, just as the flowing blood seals up injuries of the body, allowing it to heal underneath. when the healing is done with as good as possible, it is natural for the scar to fall off and allow the body - or heart to go on.

and yet... i have seen people mourn all these things their due time... and then exceed it. and keep mourning, and pouring their life over the dead. deads don't awaken. it is useless. and wasting oneself over the dead is an insult (wasting oneself over dead people is an insult to the life they wanted but did not have the chance to live), fading over something long gone. postponing its burial until it rots and then lingering over something rotten instead of cherishing a memory of something dear while it was still alive and beautiful means dying with the dead and is an insult to their memory - be it person, animal or feeling. the wheel keeps turning and no tear will stop it. offering something dead dgnity means bury it when it is time and move on, spin the wheel our way.

and there is a reason why the wheel spins. i have no idea what it is. but not knowing the why's doesn't relieve one of the duty of keeping going. of the reason i am sure. otherwise, we would just be unfortunate accidents. the worst of cynics claim we are. no shit, dudes? well, guess what: accidents don't happen at such a scale.