Pondering about statistics

I reckon it takes about the average of three minutes to read each of my posts here in my blog. Well, according to statistics*, in that same space of time, 315 people will die, and another 750 will be born.

I might take an hour to write each post, and another to edit them before hitting the “publish” button: I’m sitting at my computer, concentrating on what I’m doing, squeezing down to the last drop, every bit of idea, out of my head, cars driving fast outside. Everything seems perfectly normal, and yet, during those couple of hours, 12,632 people have died, and 30,000 have just seen light of the world for the first time.

Where are those thousands of families who have just begun to mourn the loss of someone, or to smile at the arrival of a son, daughter, nephew, niece, brother or sister?

This made me reflect for a while. Perhaps many of those people were reaching the end of a long and painful illness, and some people are relieved when the Angel comes for them. Then again, hundreds of those children who have just been born will be abandoned the next moment and will go on to form part of the death statistics before I have even finished writing this post.

How strange. A simple statistic, which I happened to read, and suddenly I’m aware of all those deaths and entrances, those smiles and tears. How many of them are leaving this life while alone in their rooms, with no one realizing what’s happening? How many will be born in secret and then abandoned outside a children’s home or church building?

I think to myself that I was once part of the birth statistics and will, one day, be included amongst the numbers of dead. It is good to be aware that I will someday die. I understand that although life goes on and we are all eternal, this existence will one day end.

Sadly, most of us do not think very much about death. Instead, we spend our lives worrying about absurdities; we put things off, and fail to notice important moments. We never take risks, because we think it’s dangerous. We complain a lot, but are afraid to take action. We want everything to change, but we ourselves refuse to change.

If we think a little more about death, we would never forget to make that much-postponed phone call. We would be a little crazier. We would not be afraid of this life coming to an end, because you cannot fear something that is going to happen anyway.

There’s an adage that says: “Today is as good a day as any to leave this world.” And a wise man once said: “Death is always sitting by your side so that, when you need to do something important, it will give you the strength and the courage that you need.”

I hope that you, my dear reader-friends, have got this far. It would be foolish to be frightened by death, because all of us, sooner or later, are going to die. And, for me, only those who accept this fact are prepared for life.

It is when you acknowledge the vitality of death that you begin to truly live your life in a meaningful and purposeful way. We shall all go down to be part of the statistics. With that being said, I leave you this big question: “Will you go down just a mere part of the statistics or as a legend of your own?”

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statistics*: http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates

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