The Secret To Life Lies In Death

by Phil La Duke

“Death? What do you all know about death?— Sgt. Barnes, Platoon.

I come from a large family (six siblings and 42 first cousins) and invariably having a large family means that you are exposed to more than your fair share of death. We have had so many deaths in my family recently as the cohort of cousins age and the plague rages that the Angel of Death has his own booth at our family reunions (no sense making an extra trip.) I come from a family of French Catholics and it is often said that we are at our best when there is a corpse in the room.

I recently called one of my cousins to whom I have been close all of my life (he is two months older than me) to break the sad news that yet another cousin who was our age had woken up dead of an apparent “heart attack”. I received the message in a text message “an apparent heart attack” is the new way to describe a less than admirable way to shuffle this mortal coil — but given the lives, he and I both lived the smart money was on neither of us seeing age 30. As I talked to my cousin (the live one not the dead one) he said, “I’m just numb to it. I’ve lost both parents and two siblings, and I know someday will be my turn. I don’t care; I’m ready”

I know many people feel the same numbness washing over them like a wave. Our salad days are behind us as are the long summers when we felt invincible and that we would live forever. I suppose this is one legitimate gripe that we can lay at the foot of COVID. Irrespective…