How does one 'achieve' death?

[Sunshine]

I have gotten some rep for this post in the oh wow oh wow oh wow thread:

Jobs' sister said that death did not 'take' him. She said he 'achieved' death. I find that to be an ingriguing statement. And one that has been caught in the web of my thoughts since I read it. For death to be an 'achievement' is indeed a novel concept.

My question is this: How does one 'achieve' death. We all die whether we 'achieve' it or not. What makes one person's death different from another person's death? Of course, Jobs knew he was dying. We don't all have that privilege. My husband knew he was dying back in the 80s and I vowed then the way he did it would be my model. Now I have the privilege of knowing as well. Thanks to modern medicine, I may live a little longer after diagnosis than he did, but a person with 5 feet of tubing coming out of her chest is not a healthy person. There's no denying.

I am more irreverent than my husband, and I make a lot of jokes about it, flying in the face of the reaper, I guess. But I have completed my task of child rearing. He was losing us all, even his young children. Heartbreaking. Well that's enough of that. Back to the question.

What do we do to 'achieve' death. We make a Will. We get our affairs in order. We mend fences. We forgive. What else? Write memoirs? What are your thoughts on this.

 

[strollingbones]

i fear death too much to think about it...but when i do...here is a quote i agree with

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to slide across
the finish line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, and shouting GERONIMO!!!"

its credited to bill mckenna

but it reflects how i feel most of the time

 

[Sunshine]

In Tom Robbins' book Jitterbug Perfume, the protagonist Alobar says something like, 'I don't fear death. I resent death. Death comes into the room when you are doing something else and doesn't bother to wipe its boots.'

(There are two kinds of people in the workd. Those who read Tom Robbins, and those who do not.)

I think that's a good way to put it. When my husand was ill and after he died, I became familiar with the Kubler-Ross stuff (whick I have no desire to revisit) and learned that people who are angry and bitter at the end of their lives are those who never really got out of life what they wanted. So, I made sure I got the goodies along the way. But many, many people do not. They wait for retirement, or more money, or permission, who knows why, they just don't. And then they die angry and bitter at not ever having taken a shot at anything.

 

[Mr. H.]

I imagine his sister was filled with some serious grief and speaking poetically if not metaphorically.

 

[alan1]

I don't fear death. I accept it as the inevitable.
I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to live forever.

 

[Sunshine]

I imagine his sister was filled with some serious grief and speaking poetically if not metaphorically.

Possibly, but still an interesting concept particularly in light of some theorists, like Erik Erikson who says we have different 'tasks' at different stages of life.

Erik Erikson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It would seem that once catapulted into the knowledge of your imminent demise one's 'task' would shift dramatically.

 

[strollingbones]

husband is a robbins reader....i am not