Students in a "Creative Writing" class were accustomed to receiving writing assignments which involved various aspects of their everyday living. Consequently, as the course drew to a close, their final assignment put them in a state of shock.
"Write your own obituary," the teacher said. Later, one of the students explained that, for him, "The weirdest part of carrying out the assignment was choosing a date of death." Another said: "Summarizing, in a few short paragraphs, who I was and what I did before I died was a growth experience." Still another said, "It brought home to me, as never before, the one thing we all share in common: at the moment of birth we begin our journey toward death -- we're all dying!"
And so we are! All of us are dying!
And so we are! All of us are dying!
This was driven home to me very early in my writing career, having spent much of my first year introduced to news writing style by composing obituaries about people I never knew and relying solely on second-hand information provided by the respective funeral director. It often bothered me that in 500 words or less I had just summarized a person's lifetime. An injustice, in my mind but nonetheless an accepted practice.
Many years ago, a Eugene O'Neil play called "Lazarus Laughed" was produced on the Broadway stage. The play was based on the New Testament episode in which a friend of Jesus named Lazarus dies and his body is placed in the burial tomb. Three days later, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
In the death experience, Lazarus learned to appreciate the greatness of life, and he sees things in a whole new perspective. He is able to look upon the affairs of mankind with a cosmic insight. And it is all so funny that he laughs. He cannot contain himself from laughter over the way people worry and struggle and relate to one another. "Why are your eyes always watching one another with suspicion?" he asks.
The play reminds us that we all are destined to share in Lazarus' experience of death and seeing the affairs of mankind in a whole new perspective -- looking back on our own earthbound activities with a cosmic insight. And, like Lazarus, perhaps, we shall ask: "Why are you always watching one another with suspicion?... Why are you bearing grudges against one another?... Why are you trying so hard to outdo one another, manipulate one another, control one another, humiliate one another?... Why are you being so judgmental toward one another?"
Indeed, why?
Many years ago, a Eugene O'Neil play called "Lazarus Laughed" was produced on the Broadway stage. The play was based on the New Testament episode in which a friend of Jesus named Lazarus dies and his body is placed in the burial tomb. Three days later, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
In the death experience, Lazarus learned to appreciate the greatness of life, and he sees things in a whole new perspective. He is able to look upon the affairs of mankind with a cosmic insight. And it is all so funny that he laughs. He cannot contain himself from laughter over the way people worry and struggle and relate to one another. "Why are your eyes always watching one another with suspicion?" he asks.
The play reminds us that we all are destined to share in Lazarus' experience of death and seeing the affairs of mankind in a whole new perspective -- looking back on our own earthbound activities with a cosmic insight. And, like Lazarus, perhaps, we shall ask: "Why are you always watching one another with suspicion?... Why are you bearing grudges against one another?... Why are you trying so hard to outdo one another, manipulate one another, control one another, humiliate one another?... Why are you being so judgmental toward one another?"
Indeed, why?
Answer: Because we live in a (counter) culture today that negatively impacts human relations.
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