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Death: Life’s Only Certainty in a World of Uncertainty

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Life is unpredictable. From the very first breath we breathe, our existence is shaped by our intricate mixture of choice, destiny, and circumstance. Some are born with a silver spoon or maybe into gold, and some are born to hardship. Some leave behind a lifetime of many years, some are taken away the moment they come to life. Luck appears, disappears, or never materialises. In this sea of uncertainty, the only thing we can be sure of is one thing. Death. Whether we are black or white, rich or poor, what we do and where we're from, the only real thing we can be sure of in life is that sooner or later, it will end. Death is this cold and informing fact. Death is the great leveller. Death is not concerned with status, wealth, age, race, or creed. Kings and peasants, poets and soldiers, revolutionaries and the forgotten, all equals must face the final moment. It is perhaps the one experience universal to all people, and it is perhaps one of the most avoided when the subject is brought forward for examination. Why, then, do human beings approach something so inevitable with such denial or terror? Finally, it is the irreversibility of death that creates the discomfort. Everything else in life can be altered, redone, revised, or regretted. Death gives no do-over, no second chance. Once it is achieved, it cannot be undone. The fact that it is irreversible can be intimidating, not only because it puts an end to our personal existence, but also because it starkly reminds us that we are not at the helm. In a planning-obsessed, power-crazy, control-mad world, death is a reminder of the hard truth of how fleeting and tenuous everything actually is. Even in accepting that truth, there is great power. Once we realise death is unavoidable, we are compelled to see life differently. It makes us consider how we spend our time, how we treat other human beings, and what we care about. The Stoic philosophers of old exercised the concept of “memento mori”, that reminder of death, to not make us full of grief, but to encourage us to live well. We have only a limited time, and we need to spend it well. Modern society allows itself to be distracted from death. Distraction, noise, and illusions of durability are ubiquitous. Anti-ageing moisturisers, legacy books, and web pages all sell us a kind of immortality. No one can change the fact that one day we will not take another breath. To live, we must accept death, not try and escape it. And so we begin to release the little fear that is gnawing away at us, the little wars, the little struggles for power, belonging, and focus on what really matters instead like love, compassion, fearlessness, and purpose. Religions and philosophies have, throughout history, tried to make sense of or console death. Some view it as a move to another form of existence, and others as a return to the soil or an assimilation with the cosmos. Religious or secular, though, the reality of bodily death remains. What changes is our response to it. Some let the fear of death immobilise them. Others let it energise them. Artists, writers, scientists, and philosophers throughout history have created their best work because they knew that time was short. Parents labour to make their kids better. Friends offer encouragement and humour. Strangers sometimes give random acts of kindness because they know that a moment is so fleeting. All this because of the awareness, sometimes realised and sometimes not, that death is near. Ironically, while reflecting on death, we learn to live life correctly. We understand that every second counts, every meeting can be worth something, and living isn't struggling against death but living in the fullness of the moment as long as we have it. Death lends its urgency, its rapidity, its beauty to life. Lacking it, perhaps we would never be able to cherish a sunrise, the laugh of a child, or the arms of one we love. Finally, in all the unpredictability of life, careers, love, health, wealth, death is the one that gets us all. It is not to be feared but to be studied. By studying it, we are better able to live more intentionally, more liberally, and more abundantly. Because as much as we can't escape death, we can decide how we'll live until we do.

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Published on 9/3/2025

Apurwa likes listening to music. He is fond of doing creative works and exploring new places and learning their historical backgrounds.

Apurwa Lamichhane

Grade 12

Roll No: 26037

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