No one knows -- and we may never know for sure -- why Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard with a shotgun and killed twelve people Monday. My first impulse was to fire off a harsh condemnation of the press which, of course, tried to use the event to push the liberal gun-control agenda by misreporting certain details, such as the fact that Alexis carried a legally purchased shotgun, NOT an automatic rifle, much less an AR-15, as was initially reported. But then I was struck by the fact that all too often we tend to pay short shrift to the victims in our rush to use the event to support or vindicate a point of view, or even just to make sense of it by categorizing it as, say, the "work of a crazed gunman." Then we focus on the most sensational aspects of the event -- why did he do it? how did he get past security with a shotgun, even WITH a pass in hand? Much will be written about Alexis in the days and weeks to come. But what about the victims?
Presumably twelve people headed to work at the Navy Yard Monday morning -- and will never go home again. Someone's son. Someone's daughter. Someone's parent. Someone's spouse. Someone's best friend. Someone's sister. Someone's brother. Someone's true love. Gone. I have been spending some time lately reading about the life-after-death debate. There are dissertation-length arguments pro and con, but in the end there is no way to know with absolute certitude whether this life is all there is until you reach the end of it. Most of us probably hope there is life after death; it isn't easy to accept that when we die that's it, that there's only oblivion. A cynic or atheist might say that religions have been created not just to mold how we live our lives but to make it easier to face the finality of death. It isn't my intent to bore you with my opinions about an afterlife. I have more questions than answers anyway, like almost everyone else, I assume. But I DO know one thing. Many of us will have no choices when it comes to when and where and how we die. Oh, sure you can exercise and eat right and do everything you can to extend your life and avoid perishing due to certain diseases, but you won't cheat death. You can work hard day in and day out to be a perfect physical specimen and keel over dead while watching TV. That happened to a friend of mine. You can be young and full of hope for the future, perhaps just graduating from high school, just falling in love, and then go over a hill as you drive down a road and run smack into an eighteen wheeler whose driver has dozed off and let his rig drift over into your lane. That happened to the son of a friend of mine. You can be obese and a smoker for decades and live to a ripe old age. There is just no telling. There is only one certainty. We are all going to die. You, me, everyone we know, everyone you see on television. Don't know when. Can't say how. But what we CAN do is make sure that our life, whether it's the only one we ever have or not, is WELL SPENT. They say your life passes before your eyes in your last moments. If that's so I will see many more things I regret than I am proud of, were I to die two minutes from now. But I still have time. Most of us don't know how much of that precious commodity we have left, so there's not a moment to waste. It will be better to live a life that has had a positive effect -- on an individual, a nation, a society, on nature. And if there are things you want to do, places you want to go, goals you wish to achieve, you'd be well-advised to get after it. Live life to its fullest. Love like there is no tomorrow. Cliches, yes. But worth heeding. I hope those who died at the Navy Yard have gone on to better things. I hope their last thoughts were not filled with regrets. And I hope the rest of us will make every day count from now on. |
WHEN DEATH COMES FOR YOU
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