The brevity of life

Tiarnan, five, dwells on topics which rarely concern little boys of his age. He is in the habit of wrestling with the deeper issues of life, and the world around him. It seems clear that he is trying to understand the nature of life and the context in which it is lived.

Yesterday, he commented to me:

"I wish that people never died, in real life."

He looked somewhat pained as he said this, squinting his features as if peering into the future we all must face, one day: Death.

He discussed his thoughts further on the matter, but his words were a little too quick and light for me to catch, in his high voice. However, at the end, I heard his final observation, as he looked up at me again.

"Humans are just too easy to break."

He didn't seemed pleased at this poor design work. With a slightly heavy air, he then wandered off, perhaps in search of his brothers, for some lighter fare.

This little snippet of conversation leads me to reflect again on the weightiness that preoccupies the thoughts of my youngest son. He is quite the little philosopher. I am led to wonder how he will be when he grows up, if this is how he is, at the beginning. I would be unsurprised to find him becoming a ruminative writer, who contemplates matters of some depth, with great care. After all, he is already doing as much, in his daily conversation, as a five year old.

I have no answer to life and death, Tiarnan. Yet, there is hope for children as young as you are, that science might learn to forestall death, to a great extent, in the course of your lifetime.

Perhaps, for little Tiarnan, Death could be much further away than it was for his parents' generation. I hope so, anyway. I would love for my children to endure for a very long time, indeed.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


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