AN: Just an idea that popped into my head. Has nothing really to do with Twilight, just the bit about immortality. No real POV, so don't ask. Review!
Maggie
...
Face it. People have longed to be immortal since the beginning of time. Every country, every culture, has attempted to cheat death at one point or another. We've told stories about Holy Grails, fountains of youth, mythical creatures, and rituals that could grant us life forever. We've searched for these things relentlessly since their conception in the minds of the conceited human beings that desired them, even going so far as to kill others for the chance at eternal life. This craving for immortality has been one that has weakened mankind since the beginning, even though it's perfectly clear that we will never get to live forever, no matter how many times you ask the gods.
Who are humans, a truly mundane, average species, to call themselves worthy enough of living forever? What extraordinary things have we as human beings done to deserve eternal life? Brutal murder, heartless torture, the complete erasure of entire cultures, and the single-handed destruction of the only planet capable of supporting life for light years in all directions are in no way the actions of a race superior to the circle of life, and we know that. So why do we keep longing for a chance to be around forever?
It's simple. It's in our genetic makeup as human beings. It's what makes us human beings, and it's simply the desire to be the best we can be. Why do we have a social hierarchy that places everybody in their rightful spot, even to this day? Why has mankind had such a problem in the past with communism? Why is each person on this earth trained to make the most of the talents they have? Because it's human nature to strive to be the best.
Humans have grown to think that death is the end. People fear death as a sort of evil being, personified in stories and in pictures as a dark man, cloaked in black and banishing those who don't abide by his rules into the Underworld. But is that really what death is? To him who sees death as an evil force attempting to steal away his life's accomplishments, the end will always appear grim and sombre. In striving to make the most of our life, trying with all the strength we can muster to keep growing and growing and growing past the point of no return, we have created a monster in something so natural, so beautiful, so simple.
Those who are content with what they have, however, are the ones that will die happy. Those who attempt to better themselves, but not at the expense of others, those who try to improve their lives step by step, accepting the change that has been brought upon them with humble adoration, are the ones aware that the end is inevitable. It's part of our world, part of our lives, and part of our society we can't live without.
In wishing since the dawn of time for a chance at being forever young, we have bestowed a sort of false hope in the minds of the world's population. A hope that we can live on after our rightful time has come, to prosper and thrive as forever flows past our insensitive, carefree selves, is what sparks the longing for immortality. When we die thinking that we could have accomplished more in our lifetimes, is when we die unhappy. When we die happy, we die knowing that we've accomplished all we can accomplish in one lifetime.
Those who die happy are the ones that don't see death as an end to what could possibly have been beautiful, but as a new beginning. Those who see that just because this life is over, another life can't begin. Those who believe that death is the end are those unworthy of immortality. But those who look at death as a chance to start over, as something ultimately inevitable, they are the ones who are truly immortal. Immortality lies not in the way you see this life, but in the way you see life itself. Immortality is belief that life never ends. It simply stars over. That is what being immortal means.