A Eulogy

He died. He lived a tortured life, but at least he died with dignity. Screw it. NO ONE DIES WITH DIGNITY!!!

There. That's better.

Every time you avert your eyes when someone passes, you kill them. Every time you allow someone to sit by themselves at a meal, alone in a room full of friendship and love, you kill them. Every rejection, every day isolated from a world that is so near yet so far saps the life force out of a person, until all that is left is a walking corpse, a body which breathes, yes, and has blood coursing through its veins; but as dead as your great-grandparents buried in that cemetery on the top of the hill.

He didn't die last week. He died years ago. Last week was a mere reconciliation of soul and body.

Bodies need food, water, and sleep to survive. Souls need trust. Souls need acceptance. Souls need to be loved. It matters not whether a soul deserves these things, just as it matters not whether a body deserves food or water--these are basic needs of life.

A person dies, regardless of age, when their friends pass away to a different world, and they are left behind, misunderstood.

All people love. All people are good--that is, they start off that way. But just as starving people will steal bread a starving soul will steal love and turn defensive as all the survival instincts turn on.

So when it comes your turn to speak lovingly of this man, know that he didn't have to die. When you throw roses on the casket, and shovel dirt over the top, burying him out of sight and out of mind, know that you buried him years ago.

You killed him. And all the handwashing in the world will never change that fact.

Love one another. And don't let your ignorance be fatal again.