One year after graduation

When I see the photos of 2018 graduation ceremony on Facebook, I start to realize that it has been one year since I, myself, graduated last year.

What a year!

Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and still feel confused about where I am.  Still in school? Or else?

The pain from my Ph.D is always there. I can’t look back without anger or tears. But I start to think less and less frequently about it.

Maybe it is a good thing, I always tell myself in this way.  And I will try to remind myself of the things I still have.

Life is not fair, when I think about how much I put and how much I get. But it is not as unfair as I thought it would be.  At least, I still get food on my table and still have a bed to sleep at night.  Maybe others go through even a tougher path to get where they are right now.  The only thing I am aware of, is myself.

Have I pushed my best?  Can I stick on?

I could and I should. There is no end to the road, and I will keep on going.

 

 

 

Why is death a bad thing?

 

One day I took a uber from airport back home, together in the car, a young tried to start a conversation with me. He just went back from his first trip to Africa. All the things he mentioned about Africa are too common to me, cheap beer, cheap food, dirty streets, cool safari, ect, except one point. He mentioned that they seemed to be quite calm while talking about their parents, relatives or friends’ death.

” The girl I met just lost her parents, but there is no trace of sadness on her face.”

“So? Maybe, it is you who take death so badly. Maybe for them, death is a good thing.” I replied.

Last week, suicide becomes a hot topic again, with the shocking news of two highly successful people who choose to end their lives in this way.  But why is suicide a surely bad thing?

Maybe, it is due to the common belief that death is the worst thing which can happen to human. It seems odd to me, while almost all religions paint a wonderful picture of after life, if you behave properly.

Then, isn’t choosing death just a jump ahead to heaven? However, they all think suicide is a sin.

For atheists who believe pleasure is the ultimate goal in life, if one person’s life is full of pain,  isn’t suicide a good way to end the pain and gain relief? But, few atheists

I always ask myself, if anyone close to me tells me that he/she wants to suicide, how do I respond?

A good movie exploring this topic is “Taste of the cherry”. In the end of the movie,  we still don’t know whether the hero is persuaded that the beauty on the Earth, like the taste of cherry,  is all needed for continuing his life.

For Taoism,  every stage of life should be accepted and celebrated, including death. A famous story every Chinese can quote, is that when Zhuangzi’s wife died, instead of mourning, he was singing and dancing.

 

By saying all these, I don’t mean to promote death as a good thing, but absolutely rejecting death seems neither  reasonable to me.  As a liberalist,  I respect personal decision, especially if the decision doesn’t cause any social response.

In any way, our discussion would be only about how to live,  not how to prevent death.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_suicide