Last Vista-Dome To Eternity

Somewhere (tv? movies? music?), people have gotten the idea that they can cheat death and live forever. Risk-taking is no big thing, because, in the movies, even if the subject is killed, we’ll see him again in his next flick. We have become ten feet tall and bulletproof, and so it goes. Who cares about death? That’s for old folks and soldiers.

Do we even realize these days that death is permanent? That there won’t be any “do-overs” or second chances? In our secularized society, we have done away with the concept of Eternal Life, replaced it with “endless life,” and pursued our satisfactions wherever we can find them, with no thought to tomorrow. We seem to have begun to identify with the vampires, zombies, and other undead that populate the popular culture. Like the characters in the “Twilight” series, we can just never die.

And the old aren’t immune. As one of these, I am here to tell you that I love and rejoice in the gorgeous beauty of God’s magnificent creation every day of my existence and am going to be leaving it fighting tooth and nail to stay. I love my loved ones to snoopy, bossy, interfering distraction, and don’t know how I would survive the loss of even one of them. I would dearly love to live forever, or at least long enough to see my grandchildren’s children. In any case, death awaits us all, some sooner than others, messy or peaceful, but it will come, whether we believe in it or not.

But I am of a different generation from the secular hedonists of today’s culture, and I can know things about death that the more recent arrivals haven’t learned yet. To them, old age is evil, to be avoided at all costs. To them, old people are bad, especially if they want to stop the youngsters from doing whatever feels good, no matter what. The fear of what lies beyond death is there, but it is pushed far back into the consciousness in favor of “living in the now.” Which, in an aside, is why most of them will do nothing about the death panels and refusal of care for elderly and impaired that is the backbone of the new nationalized healthcare laws: They are convinced those laws will never apply to THEM.

Unfortunately, these youngsters are next in line for the old-fogey train to greener pastures, pearly gates, and harp lessons, and they aren’t going to like it any more than the current group of dodderers do. But, death is part of life, and one does not get out of life without having to experience death. No matter how suckky one’s life is, death is the only way out. There are ways to make it un-suckky, but few young people are interested in making the changes that would allow this to happen. Those who do realize their mortality, their morality, and their obligation to at least attempt to make the world a better place before they have to step aboard that last Vista-Dome to eternity.

In the meantime, we watch the self-destructive, selfish, arrogant, debauched behavior of these people, and wonder if we were ever that bad. Probably not, since mores and morals were still respectable and respected when we were their age. We could tell them a thing or two, but they aren’t interested. They are young and healthy, so why worry about that stuff today? Even if the worst happens and they get their tickets punched in the next twenty-four hours, they can’t be bothered with even the faintest vestiges of preparation for anything but that smokin’ hot comeback the next day. Just like in the movies. Ten feet tall and bulletproof. Yeah, that’s it.

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