the final hour

Been thinking a lot about what it means to be human and to live a conscious life. Consistently declining, your body giving up on you to a point where you can no longer swallow, where you forget there is food in your mouth, where you have no concept of reality, is no life worth living. It is a miserable and cruel existence. You are holding onto a faint glimmer that something might get better. There comes a point when you have to rationalize and accept death. You don't want to be the murderer of your own parents but you cannot deny reality either. Life is not a bedridden existence where you cannot convey what you feel, where you cannot experience food, where you no longer recognize your children or even yourself. Life is consciousness. It is understanding that the first ray of sunlight brings a new day, that drinking a glass of cold water on a warm day, feeling it go down from your mouth to your esophagus and then your stomach is a reminder that your body is alive and fighting everyday to exist. It is recognizing the eyes of those borne of your loins from a mile away. It is feeling the pain and sorrow that existence brings. It is understanding the joy you feel when you see another human smile. The moment you stop understanding the gravity of these everyday experiences, you are no longer alive. You are a shell housing organs, pumping blood, and taking breaths. You have lost that which makes you you. These experiences need not be prolonged. These resources can be utilized for the young, who have a chance. This is a sacrifice owed to the young, from the old. The bow after the curtains are closed. The old have lived through their time. They have taken advantage of their young pliable bodies with a spring in their step and the energy to match the strongest coffee. They have created and rebelled and loved and hated. They understand death. There is nobility in acceptance of death - yours and your loved ones. Easier said than done and yet we have a timer since the day we are born. The clock is ticking - on us and our loved ones. If we must accept a truth, it is this - life ends.