Death vs Risk

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."-Norman Cousins

My current Commuting to Work CD Lecture Series is about the religious upheaval of the Reformation. In the first lecture, the professor made an interesting comment - religion was a serious matter back in the 1500s. Before modern medicine and modern hygiene, people died all stages of life, especially children. Someone might be healthy today but die tomorrow. Life was short and uncertain and no one truly knew what was safe. Many thought the chill of cold water when bathing was unhealthy. Some thought mercury or arsenic was good for the body. Death was beyond anyone's control.

"But at my back I always hear. Time's winged chariot hurrying near"
- Andrew Marvell in "To his Coy Mistress"

"Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;"
- poem by Emily Dickinson

With death never far away, people were naturally concerned with their soul and the judgement of God. Would they go to heaven if they died the next day? How could they improve their odds for salvation? They relied on the Roman Catholic Church to save them both in life and after death. For example, in the 1500's it was very popular to purchase salvation through the buying of indulgences. Martin Luther objected to this practice in his 95 Theses and the Reformation began.

Today life expectancy is quite long and most people expect to live to a ripe old age. Yes accidents happen but these are rare exceptions. We now live in the material world for many, many decades and the spiritual world is something distant and far off, something to be put off until we're old.

I was reminded of this topic this weekend when discussing risk and what children used to do versus what we allow children to do now-a-days. With a long life expectancy, we fear death more. We have so much more life to lose from an early death caused by accident or disease. Instead of death being a part of life, we do everything in our power to keep death away from the young. Don't climb that tree, you might break your neck. Wear a helmet when you ride your bike. Don't eat that, it's filthy with germs. The odds of a child dying from tree climbing, etc are low but the odds are greater than zero. That makes many parents nervous and they limit opportunities and actions of their kids to lower the risk to as near zero as possible.

"A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave die but once."
- Shakespeare in Julius Caesar

A life of zero risk and zero exposure has it's own risks. Science is finding that when young children are not exposed to germs, they develop more severe allergies and have less immunity when they grow up. An isolated, at-home child will have weaker social skills which could impact their success on the job later in life.

Bottom Line

Isaiah 22:13 "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die."
Don't be so afraid of death that you run away from life. Embrace life and accept a little risk. Live a little. But don't forget the golden mean and go crazy in excess. Personally I'll pass on bungee jumping and sky diving. "Everything in moderation" - Aristotle.

"The unexamined life is not worth living."-at his trial, Socrates argued that life must be about more than making money and being successful in your career. For him it was important to discuss ethics and religion and to determine how best to live with the time given to man. Aim high with your life.