Earlier today I saw a headline on twitter that read “Blogger announces own death after battle with cancer“. If I am 100% honest, these are the headlines I usually avoid clicking on. I have found that they cause me to become depressed. They hit close to home for those I’ve lost. They are a reminder that we can’t seem to beat this terrible disease. They hurt. Yet curiosity got the best of me and I clicked it anyway.
Now I can’t stop thinking about it.
Some of the reasons are obvious. A 41 year old husband and father of 2 girls passing away is tragic. The loss of human life is tragic. Yet what weighed on me the most was the following quote:
I haven’t gone to a better place, or a worse one. I haven’t gone anyplace, because Derek doesn’t exist anymore. As soon as my body stopped functioning, and the neurons in my brain ceased firing, I made a remarkable transformation: from a living organism to a corpse, like a flower or a mouse that didn’t make it through a particularly frosty night. The evidence is clear that once I died, it was over.
Reading it again as I post it made me sad. I don’t know Derek. What I read is a statement that has no hope. I don’t mean this as a personal attack or any disrespect to him. My heart breaks for him. I mean this in a broader sense. I’m struck by the fact that Derek apparently didn’t believe in Heaven….or Hell. I wonder how he got through the tough battles and days. If there was no hope, what did he cling to? I wonder about his family. What is their anchor? How do they approach his passing? Again, I’m not judging, I’m just curious…
and I’m sad.
Where is Your Hope?
AARON CONRAD 