Disturbing Truth

The inspiration to write this blog comes from the song 'Say' by John Mayer. I have heard it so many times and still haven’t got bored of it. Maybe its just me :-). The song tells about saying what you need to say with a smile even when you know you have only a few more days to live. This song is also featured as one of the soundtracks of the movie ‘The Bucket list’. The protagonists make a list of things to do before they kick the bucket.

A man is diagnosed with a terminal illness. He does not have many days to live. It is something none of us would like to be in. How would we cope with such a situation if the man was one of us? How would we feel? What would be our state of mind? I don’t have a definite answer
to these questions but I will take a cynical approach and try my best to give them.

There could be only two human emotions that could result from this uncertain news.

1. Depression
2 Complacency

Depression - 9 out of 10 people would fall in this category. This comes naturally to humans in the advent of such undesirable news. It is how our body and mind reacts to life’s uncertainty. The cause of depression could be numerous, primarily because of the fear of dying. The others could be the loss, his or her family would go through after he or she has gone away, the unpredictable future of his or her life and the sheer thought that his or her days are numbered literally does impact ones mind. The family bonds that a person cherishes, the many good friends that a person built through his or her life will have to be left behind and that is not easy to endure.

Complacency – It is hard to foresee the number of people that could fall in this category. There is a lot of dependency on other factors that could render a person complacent with the given situation. The primary factor could be ‘Age’. People above the age of 80 could be complacent than someone who is middle aged simply because the former has passed his or her prime time and the latter is just in the midst of one. Then again it is arguable because these are not carved in stone. There are different kinds of people with different attitudes or approach to life, come what may.

In time (whatever is left) complacency sets in because the person does not have a choice but to face the truth of his or her life. This once again is human tendency, the mind and body adapts to the present state. It could be a wonder how our mind reacts sometimes. If this wasn’t possible humans would have become insane.

There could be a totally different section of people who doesn't really care and take life one day at a time. They readily accept the truth and abide by the rules set forth to them. But at the same time they don't allow their mind to take over their body. They try to live as normally as they possibly can. Psychologically this sort of behaviour could only assist the body to become better if not the opposite. After all its the mind that rules the body.

We are mortals and each and everyone of us will have to succumb to it one day or the other. The ONLY choice we have forth is - How do we want to deal with the matter?

Note: The annotation given above is not based on any proof but purely my personal standpoint.