My dad thought he was immortal and invincible when it came to dying. I watched him struggle to stay in his body when everything was going against him. His body was shutting down, but he was determined to out-do God. It didn’t work!
My friends Harry and Carol attended a memorial service some time ago. They were laughing about the fact that even though death is inevitable, there is always a shock, surprise or amazement when someone dies. “Oh My God!! He Died?”
There are a lot of people that eat too much, drink too much, and do things that are death-defying acts. A friend of mine, Marnie, told me her husband was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. She said that he’d been eating too much sugar in the form of candy and cookies for decades and had been warned that his sugar levels were high. She said that he thought he was invincible. He isn’t alone by any stretch of the imagination.
Each of us pushes the envelope of unhealthy habits even though we all have the common sense and the information to back up the fact that our bodies can only withstand so much abuse before severe repercussions in the form of disease show up. I think it’s because we want to believe we can buck the system, out-do God.
Irvin Yalom, an existential psychotherapist, shared something I always thought might be true. He said that each of us believes we are going to be the one that is immortal, the one who can out-do God, the one who will survive what is an existential non-negotiable event for every living thing on this planet – death!
I laugh at myself and the rest of us who allow our egos the space to attempt to show God who’s boss! We are funny creatures – so much wisdom and so little smarts.