Death might not be a bad idea after all!

Recently I had to kill some time near the zebra crossing at the famous Kelani Kanda (the main  road to enter the University of Kelaniya). It was bit early in the morning and all the bustle around the university was starting to build up. I just sat on a concrete bench gazing at a traffic sergeant who was taking an enormous effort to minimize the congest. He was signing the vehicles to pass in a rhythmic style and sometimes grinned at a motorcyclist or a car driver who tried to scurry their vehicles through a smaller gap neglecting the pedestrians who crossed the road on the cue of the traffic sergeant. What I saw was a typical morning around the Kelani Kanda! Nothing unusual! Nothing extraordinary! Then suddenly out of the blue it hit me! It hit me so hard that I was taken aback and I made sure that I clutched the concrete bench so hard! Death! All the drivers in the traffic and the impatient pedestrians near the zebra crossing will have to face the inevitable death one day or the other. What followed was a horrible thought that gave me the creeps for two or three minutes. White flags began to swivel through all over my mind! Then this weird question came to my mind in a flash. Does that car driver who is perhaps humming to a fancy song cozily inside his car is seriously aware of his death? Does that traffic sergeant who yells at drivers has ever pictured his own death? Does that aunty who is vigorously mopping the dusty Cargills entrance to welcome the busy customers in ten or twenty minutes is aware that she has to leave her beloved ones? Does that security uncle who is dozing off in his own chair after a hell of night workload aware of his death? My instantaneous answer was ‘no’! My troubled mind seemed to find its way to calm down. Yes death is a bad concept and a bad word to many of us. Some of us, no, I cannot generalize people, but I can talk of myself, for I am very afraid to die. However, the concept of death might not be a bad idea after all! When I looked back at those people I understood that all of them (including myself) are equal in a wonderful manner. Even though we like to categorize ourselves in thousands of ways that does not matter at all in the end! For a one moment, I could not distinguish the difference between the car driver, the sweeping aunty, the traffic sergeant and the dozing security uncle (please be kindly noted that I am using the professions as a mere signifier). They all appeared to me as human beings. Human beings who tried to smile, to earn a living amidst thousands of untold miseries. They might be different in so many ways, but all of them are equal. I personally think that it is a good thing to feel death now and then! (I might be melodramatic here, but I mean this as a positive thing). The idea that we all keep remembering the fact that we will leave everything behind will make us better people since I believe that thought could function as an amulet that scares away all the negative feelings and ideas. People will respect each other better, show humanity to the fellow beings if they are constantly made aware of the impermanence of life. After all what is the point of being hateful, deceitful or jealous if you have to die? Death might be scary, but it also can discipline us in a wonderful manner. It can heal our all wounds if we are smart enough to use that concept creatively. With that happy note I wrapped my philosophical thoughts and got up to climb dear beloved Kelani Kanda.