Entry for June 18, 2007

In addition to his enquiries about Where Babies Come From, the Blue Eyed Boy was also asking Mrs B about matters of mortality. He was asking about his Gran (my Mum) and asked "Why do people have to die?"
Now, this is a question which goes through my own head several times a day as part of the existential angst which preoccupies a man of 39 and 11.25/12ths as he rushes headlong towards his fifth decade while his heart murmurs gently "I am broken. I am broken." However, the enquiry from the Blue Eyed Boy is not one that we tend to voice much as adults.
More than that though, we have become such a disparate society belief-wise that it's a difficult question to answer. I suppose in days gone by, you could be 99% safe (in a country like Scotland) by replying that, "People have to die, so that God can take them to heaven." (Although even then you might be treading on dangerous ground with Christians of a strongly determenistic bent - "Well son, if you ain't one of the chosen, you ain't getting into the land of milk, honey and endless harp music") But now, when some kid asks you that, you can't be sure that their parent is Christian, or even religious at all. And of course, none of us want to tread on the toes of the parent (whatever our own induividual views are), so it's a tough one.
For those of us with no religion, it scarcely seems appropriate to answer, "People have different beliefs about this matter and the truth is nobody knows for sure. However, I believe that evidence tends to strongly suggest that people have to die, because the cummulative effects of the ageing process - be it furring of the arteries or damage by free radicals or indeed hearts that eventually murmur "I am giving up now, say goodnight Gracie" - eventually means that we are no longer viable as organisms, and we simply cease to function, and return to the nothingness from whence we came."
That would not be comforting for a four year old.