They say nothing in life is guaranteed. There’s no assurance of a job. There’s no promise of love. There is no word in the story of life of success, fame, and our dreams becoming reality. I used to believe that as well, the prospect of nothing being guaranteed. That life is a gamble. Until I took a gamble with life. When I stood there, just watching, waiting to see how this story would unravel. That was when I realised, Death is the only guarantee. Death is the only reason people do anything, people get anyway. And yet when Death claims people, grief and misery arrive with it. So grief and misery are also guaranteed. It’s funny when the prospect of dying, leaving this existence, arrives, many thoughts come to us. All the things we will not have the chance to do, all the people we will never have the chance to see, all the things we wish we had done, the opportunities we missed, the things we didn’t say when we should have. Regret. Regret is also guaranteed in life. All the things you wish had happened, the stories you still have to live, the adventures you will never have. Fear also arrives with Death, whether you’re facing the barrel of the gun, or waiting in hospital for Death to claim you. But what are we scared of. Are we scared of leaving our loved ones? No. Because love is not guaranteed. How do we know when we leave this world if people we care? If we have made a big enough influence in people’s lives? We are scared of what happens after Death. Because God is not guaranteed in life either. No one knows what happens, and although people say they have faith in God, whom they will return to, no one wishes to find out. Because what if they are wrong, what if there is no God. All the hard work people have done, all the time they have spent devoting there life to him would have been a waste. And perhaps it is Death to whom we return to. For if he can take, surely he can give as well. Perhaps we are just here to amuse him, play his games, before he claims us unto him once again. If Death can take away a supposed gift from God, then he must be more powerful.


When Death strikes so close to home, we realise just how much is not guaranteed. Life itself is not guaranteed. Although we are living here now, there is no assurance that we will stay. Babies that are aborted before they are born, life is not guaranteed for them, solider that fight wars, life is not guaranteed for them. Normal working class people, life is not guaranteed for them. Life is not guaranteed for anyone. But only a few people have noticed this. That little boy you see running across the park as though his life depended on it, that girl you see blowing bubbles and dancing around, the man in the workplace who jokes around, pulls pranks on others, they realise that life is flimsy, that we need to live it to the fullest, and not care what other people think. Because when Death returns to claim them, they will have regrets, they will feel scared, they will question God.


But poor Death, for he can never seem to do things right. When he claims the lives of soldiers on an opposing side, people cheer. They are relived Death has claimed the opposition rather than themselves. And yet when Death claims the live of someone so dear, there is pain and sorrow all around. Yet what is Death to do. It is his way. All the hate and anger people have had towards him has moulded him into what he is. Or rather, what we think he is. Because maybe Death is no so bad. He delivers those who suffer from pain, and we grief. He takes away the lives of young innocents, and we grief. There is no pleasing the human race. Death has received such a bad name by humans, but that is only natural, as things that cannot be explained are deemed as bad, wrong, unacceptable, so humans do not scare themselves. That’s what I did anyway, when I saw Death claim the life of my parents, my brother, and left me alone, cold and miserable, with no clue what to do next. I just stood there as the oil truck smashed into the rest of my family. I could have pushed them out of the way, saved them, and allowed them to live life before Death claimed them for itself. But I didn’t. I know why. I know what went through my head as I saw the truck. It made me a monster in the eyes of all my friends, those who did not understand. For I didn’t, and still do not, see Death as a bad thing. And when it came to claim my family, I welcomed it with a smile. The way I saw it, Death was just. Death knew the pain my mother was going through as she battled against cancer. Death knew the horrid smoke my father inhaled as he worked was paining him. Death knew my brother would not be able to stand not having parents to guide him.


And so I thank Death. Thank you for being the only guarantee, the only recluse, the only saviour. Thank you for giving life a meaning, giving people a reason to fulfil dreams. And thank you for putting up with bad publicity and contradicting messages. And thank you for being understanding and compassionate.S