The Sure Thing

A soldier may suffer one of a thousand different deaths. Whether he goes out cowered in the foxhole or charging the enemy line, his death will likely be considered honorable. Just for voluntarily donning the uniform, anyone in the military at least possesses a modicum of bravery. Not everyone, however, will meet their end with grace or courageousness. There are over 100,000 accidental deaths in America every year. People fall from ladders, forget basic gun safety, or mix the wrong medications. These people die because they're careless or stupid and their lives were really just a delay of the inevitable. But what about the other kind of accidental deaths, like car crashes or hurricanes? Are there no circumstances that are out of our control or is our death predetermined and inescapable?

Nature may be unpredictable to a degree but it also establishes itself quite well in certain areas of the world. Information on natural disaster frequencies is readily available, so God is not to blame when your Florida home is demolished by a hurricane. Where you make a home is a circumstance well in your control. I may be calling karma into question on this one, but when you construct a wooden house next to a tree that eventually falls on you, this is a vengeful justice.

There are

Image via Wikipedia

things we've become accustomed to that are completely unnatural so it's a little odd when we question why someone dies in a car collision. We can jam pack airbags and safety features throughout our vehicles but we're still needlessly traveling at high speeds in boxes of metal, plastic, rubber and glass. What's worse, obtaining and maintaining a license to drive a car is possibly the least restricted and regulated safety measure put into place in this country. We can all agree that there are plenty of stupid drivers out there and we can all agree that motor vehicles are dangerous, yet over 250 million vehicles actively speed down our American streets and highways. There is no dumb luck when someone dies from a car wreck. It's a risk we knowingly enter into every time we climb in the car.

I don't really believe our deaths are fixed from birth but I also don't believe that the dangers of life can be completely avoidable. Part of experiencing the world is accepting the hazards that accompany it. Take the risk if you value the reward and live the life you want. Your death is only as significant as your life has been.

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