Death

"Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways."- Anonymous

Death. This is the greatest mystery to all mankind. No one really knows what's going to happen to them after they die. Is there really Heaven or Hell? Will my soul live on? Will I die and then be reborn into another life, Reincarnate?
There are many beliefs around the world. If you see all religions have a way of telling the people what is going to happen after you die. In Christianity/Catholicism there's Heaven or Hell. If you've been good in this life you go to Heaven if you've been bad and do awful things you go to Hell. While in other religions such as Buddhism they say that after dying your soul will continue living and reincarnate into another body of life. But no one is sure. There are also other beliefs as souls staying in the world roaming around until they are ready to let go and go to the afterlife.
In truth everyone is scared to die. Even if some deny it, don't talk about the subject or even sometimes try to fool other people and themselves by saying they are ready for it. Some because of what they have done in their life. Others because they are scared that they won't be remembered after they leave this world.
You don't really take into account death until you've seen it up close. I mean at least I didn't until I did. Since I was a little girl I was scared of the topic of dying. I tried to do anything but think about that. I don't know from where that fear came out of. But every time I saw my grandmother I couldn't help but think about the suffering. I mean I had always seen her so fragile, like if you touched her then she would break. Since she was a diabetic I saw her get her insulin shots and all the pills she took during the day. She was always so peaceful about the whole thing, but now that I think about it I don't think she wanted anyone to know about the pain all those shots gave her. She was one of those people who doesn't want anyone to worry about them. Towards the end she had to have an oxygen tank with her at all time. But I never really thought she would die so young. Even though I saw this every Christmas break that I came to Colombia it never really crossed my mind. Even though both of my dads parents had already died. My Dads dad died before I was born and my dads mom died in 2001. I dont think these affected me as much because I wasn't in Colombia when it happened.
When I found out that she had died I really didn't know what to do. My dad had woken me up told me that we were going to Colombia. I asked him why. When he was about to tell me the terrible news I overheard my brother, Gabriel, telling his friend over the phone that he couldnt go to his house because my grandmother had just died. When this information got to my head I really didn't know what to make out of it. I was 10 at the time and that was the summer that we were moving back to Colombia. I only realized that this was all true when I got to Colombia and saw all the grief on my families faces. I didn't understand why it had to be her, why not someone else? Even though I had lived all my life with her being at a fragile state I couldn't make out why she had died. I had always seen her as a strong person, the person who kept everyone calm. I never saw her get angry at anyone. Even when I was being a little brat she would always try to get what I wanted.
After seeing that death was unpredictable I couldn't help but wonder. Did she go in peace? Is she out there looking out for us? Will I see her again one day?
If you really notice like in movies or books how they describe someone passing on, they describe it as something peaceful. I mean if you really think about it maybe if you're wounded or something your last moments might be painful, but that last moment you can tell that a wave of calmness and peacefulness has overcome the persons body.
I think many people see death as a bad thing only because they have lived what death causes. Tragedy, grieving and mourning in the family. Sadness and depression. But if you take that away you see that the person has stopped suffering and passed on because they had contributed everything they could to the world.
In my opinion no one really dies. Their memory will be remembered and stories about the person will be told so that little by little, even if a few people have the memories, they will live on forever.
Me saying that you shouldn't be scared of dying is a little bit hypocritical since I'm scared of dying. But in the end what you do is going to be your legacy. You cant be scared to do what you think is right or speak your mind. You have to do everything you want to do while you still can. Like James Dean once said : "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”