The Reason People Fight to Live

My Grandfather's last unsaid message

People always consider death as the most painful thing in this world . Somehow I believe people are right , it is painful but not for the person who dies but for the people whom they leave behind,people close to them , people who loved them . Pain is only felt by these people , the living people, and thats why people who are living are afraid of death , because most of them believe when the death of others can hurt and give so much pain , how painful their own death will be, but that's not the actual reason .

The only person I have ever seen dying was my Grandfather . He was a patient of paralysis , fought with it for almost 5 years . His left portion of body didn't worked . His left hand was stiffened ,he always tried to free it but he failed every time . He was happy with his prospering family but was not happy with himself , he never showed it , but somehow I can tell he started considering himself as a burden to the family , well that's what I thought at that time . Then that day came , I was 15 or so , he was seriously ill , most of the relatives were gathered  , he looked happy to see his loved ones around him . He was not able to speak or move but i guess he wanted to give his last blessings to all of us and he wanted to say that he was satisfied with his life and now want to leave his defected body and we should not cry . Suddenly he closed his eyes and exhaled the last bit of air inside him . It was as if he left all his pain behind to go to new  beautiful world . His stiffened hand became soft and free . We all were burst in tears but he was laying calmly .

I felt the pain , deep pain . But I wasn't able to forget the calm look on his face after he left us all . Slowly I realized that death is not painful , not for the one who dies , but for the one who are left behind . But that's not the complete story . My grandfather was always full of life , he always lived and enjoyed his life to the fullest , except for his last 5 years . He fought with his body to live because he knew the pain of loosing someone close to you and he didn't wanted to give that pain to us. He fought for us . He was not the burden , we were .

Now I know why people are afraid of death so much , its not because of the pain which people feels while dying , its the pain which that person will give to his loved ones after dying, the people for whom he can fight with the world if they try to hurt them , and now  he himself going to hurt these very people . That is the real pain of death , the pain which don't let people die , the reason people fight to live .


~Anuj