Life, Death and Security

A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE! ...Otherwise, you got nothin' to talk about in the locker room. --Maude (from the movie Harold and Maude)

Instances of life are everywhere precious and precarious; most of all when they exist in isolation. Twenty people are more likely to survive than one or two. By closing our doors to the prospect of any form of death in the name of security, we actually deprive ourselves of the prospect of any form of life; the former is inextricably bound to the latter.

In the end, by living in a world of "security" (fear), we live in a shrinking world of rapidly enclosing enemies. When we live in a world of ever-increasing enemies, we cease living altogether and ensconce ourselves in the death we thought we'd locked out, not unlike the cartoon character who thinks he's locking the prisoner in jail only to realize (too late) that he has locked himself in instead.