Crying people in black,

Some are just wearing masks.

Yet they are all shedding tears

For someone in a coffin.

My parents were crying,

My ‘friends’ were secretly laughing.

After all, it was a success, their murder,

Which they blamed on an innocent ‘intruder’.

“Your time is up.” Death said.

It was really tough being dead.

My time was too short and Death was too sly,

I couldn’t even say a proper goodbye.

If I died,

would you care?

would you notice?

would you think on our memories?

would you wish we had more time?

Would you even know?

Did I come all this way just to be a bystander?

Did I do all that I did and not be remembered?

Did I achieve all I did to know that some of the ‘greats’ had nothing on me?

Was it my position to be influenced or to influence?

Will I die alone and tired?

Will I be remembered?

Did I change lives?

No, I was not standing by

Yes I will be remembered

Yes I achieved as much or more

I influenced

Yes

Yes

Yes

I think I’ll just go home to Mom and Dad who did the same.

We are all well aware how people have been using ideas of an after life (heaven and hell, reincarnation, The Millenium) to influnce others, whether that be an attempt to control a population or comfort them.

Could be that whatever happens to us after death will be better than anything happening now, so people feel better.

Could be that the choices you make in life will determine the quality of your existence after death.

Could be the difference between being eternally rewarded or punished based on a system of pre described rules.

Could be that the lack of an after life is a way of assigning special meaning to the life we have now.

All of these systems serve as a way of changing how we regard the world.

But what would a fair, just after life look like?

I think it should address the fundemental changes that occur between life and death, one that holds us responsible for our actions and still gives us room to change and move on.

Most importantly, it should address the reality that exsitence after death is incomprehensible.

A system that does justice to each of these principles would be one that exists solely in the transition from being alive and here to being dead and not with us anymore.

If a near death experience flashes your life before your eyes, then a beyond death experience should show your life from other peoples eyes.

We all know the ways that the world changed us, but imagine how it would feel if you knew how you changed the world back.

Think of the person you love most in the world, and imagine them perfectly understanding that love. Same for the person you hate most. Or that one brief interaction that has stuck with you for years, how you wish to know how to be friends with someone.

It would be empathy going from an experience based in theory to one based in tangible application. Imagine how it would feel, how it would change you.

I can't.

But if I could, if I did understand even one other person's experiences without limit or bias, I think I would be ready for the great beyond.