Death is funny—wait, no it isn’t. Death is the opposite of funny. You don’t laugh after your friend tells you that her grandmother recently passed away. Society generally accepts the idea of death as “bad news”. But what if we looked at death differently? No, I am not suggesting that death is actually hilarious. Death is serious; but we think of it so negatively that most of us push it as far away as possible from our minds. This kind of thinking leaves us unable to cope with death and can distort how we see life—and how we live our own.

When it comes to coping, people often react to death with some variation of either overwhelming depression or apparent unaffectedness (in other words, denial). Either way, it typically involves a very negative experience, one that takes a heavy toll on the person grieving. But why is this? We all know that everyone will die. But when a loved one dies, the change is drastic; we are either consumed by the misery, or we struggle to contain it. The change is so radical because we make every effort to banish the idea of death from our thoughts. It’s only when we come face-to-face with it when we are reminded of its certainty. And by that point, we have lost so much more than just a loved one.

But this way of considering death can still harm us without anyone else dying. We know that we will die, and that we could die any time, but we do not live as though this is true. We suppress our knowledge of our mortality. A few symptoms of this: we do not take care of our bodies as we should, we forget to appreciate the people close to us, and we live less full lives. 

Even though ignoring death can cause such harm, people still do not think of death very much. And it is pretty easy to see why. The idea of losing a dear friend or family member is not pleasant. But despite its unpleasantness, death is one of the most prominent, undeniable facts of life. Everyone dies. And unless we choose to die on our own accord, we have no control over how long we have until we die. Again, we all know this. However, we would rather not entertain unpleasant thoughts and “bad” feelings. But by continuing to ignore the fact of death, we also ignore life.

Perhaps we can overcome this simply by thinking about death more. Not by actually thinking about the process of death—but accepting and remembering that it is a part of life. This way, the death of someone dear to us will not reduce us to complete emotional wrecks. We will be ready. And likely, we will have made sure to appreciate the time we spent with them. Also, we will take care to live more meaningfully. We have all heard the cliché phrase, “Live every day as if it’s your last.” We already know that each day could very well be our last, but so few take the words to heart.

I think it is time that more people, myself included, start remembering the inevitability of dying. By keeping our minds open to death, we can open up our minds further to life.