Statistics are mathematical equations. They are numbers. They mean little to me. Statistically, there is a 000000001% chance that you are the person that will read this essay. And yet, here you are.…
Several years ago, when I was a brand new nurse’s aide, I had an experience with a dying patient that changed my perspective completely. I was scheduled to be a 1:1 companion with her for a 12 hour shift. The lady had received the news the day before that she most likely not live more than another week or two. And she was very much at peace with this, when talking to throughout my shift I inquired how she could be so calm and collected. She told me that death was just the next step.…
As I child, I remember during this time of year my mother and sisters would prepare to celebrate a Mexican tradition called The Day of The Dead. It takes place during October 31st to November 2nd. This is a celebration were family members take the time to reminisce about their loved ones who passed away. They do so by setting altars in their homes along with decorations, flowers, and the deceased favorite foods, drinks, and sweets. Back home, a few weeks before the celebration we would spend several days at the cemetery close to where my grandmother lives.…
As Audrey told me I didn't miss anything important, I nodded my head silently in response. Then, she got up from her seat, and handed in her worksheet to our teacher. Once she sat down at her desk again, the bell rang immediately after. "Well, you definitely chose the right time to wake up," she teased. "…
One morning during the summer before my sophomore year in high school, I woke up in a way that I would never want to be woken up ever again. I was sleeping peacefully and then I felt the hand of someone, on my arm, lightly shaking me to get up. I was very groggy, still half asleep, wondering why they had woken me up. Once I had opened my eyes I saw it was my mom’s boyfriend, and I asked “What do you want?”.…
The Three Days of Tragic Death I fell into grief, not once, but three times. Grief is the most painful things I experienced, more painful than falling off my bike or getting hit with a basketball. We are told at one point to treasure the ones we love while we still have them; is that what happened with me, I didn’t treasure my loved ones enough? I tell these stories to get it out of my system and as a tribute to the ones I lost. I kind of wish I never learned the concept of death so I could still hope they would come back, but reality has to sink in sometime.…
The next morning came it was December 26, 2004 in just a couple of hours we will be laying my dad to rest. We had to be at Corpus Christi Funeral Home at 9am for the viewing. Following around 11am we would go in recession to bury my dad. When we got to the funeral home there were so many people. I saw some of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended family.…
Throughout my life I have had to deal with death. When my grandmother died, I thought it would be the hardest thing to do in my life. Losing a parent/grandparent is tough and as a young child I never really understood. My great-grandmother died when I was too young to recall, my grandmother died and the truth was not easy, and lastly my uncle died and I understood the reality.…
The first death that I ever experienced was when I was four years old. It was of someone who was not blood related, but was still considered as family. He was my neighbor and I knew him as my grandpa. He died on his front yard while he was mowing his lawn.…
Waiting to die is one of the oddest sensations a person will endure. As I sat, with an unreasonable amount of opiate substance in my body, I began to ponder what brought me to this junction of life and why I had chosen it. The response was simple, It was my birthright. I had been born under a bad sign, during a storm, to a cursed soul. It was my fate.…
My Brush with Death On February sixth two thousand-sixteen at four forty-six pm my life changed forever. This day started out like any other day but I had no idea that my life was about to change completely. I was not prepared for what would happen that day and did not expect it to turn out the way it did. I had always pictured that day and always wondered what it would be like.…
If you have witnessed a near death experience, then you would know that it is not something that you want to experience for yourself. Till this very day, that absolutely petrifying incident is still stuck in my mind. Every now and then, the image would flash in my mind like it happened just yesterday …… It was a hot but windy day as I made my way to the sandy beaches of East Coast.…
“There are two things in life you can be sure of...death and taxes.” While both are realities we may try to avoid, many people never give much thought to the details, both financially and socially, of what happens when we die. Death is and will always be the last thing that I would talk about. When the topic of death tries to surface, I always change the subject and start a new conversation. Talking about death is very depressing and I am actually getting anxiety typing this…
After the tragic event, my family and I rushed to his coffin. I saw his face of happiness once again, marking as a happy person on Earth. Despite his happiness, tears flowed freely from my eyes as a sign of helplessness and mourning. Many of his colleagues, friends, fellow co-workers, and supporters have rushed to his wake in Makati. Most of them gave their condolences and counsels.…
It is amazing how people can take life for granted knowing that something could happen to them at any moment. I never thought much about it either, until I was faced with the realization that death could happen at any moment. In this case, it took having my grandmother diagnosed with lung cancer to finally realize the undeniable truth about death, and how everything can change in the blink of an eye. In November of 2013, I was just getting used to the idea of being a junior in high school, and dealing with the pressure of ACT’s, and college applications.…