Death is a Gift

Death is a gift.

This morning, after taking Oma to a Reflexology Seminar, I climbed through the winter fog that blanketed the valley to reach the top of Mount Young just in time to watch the full moon set over Saltspring Island. The sun's golden glow was slowly washing down the long slender trunks of the trees pointing into the clear blue sky. Standing patiently on the mountain they are witness to the dawning of yet another breathtaking day on this pale blue dot in space.

Having caught my breath from pumping up the western face of this 800 foot elevation I decided to explore a little further into the unknown reaches of this park. The moss was thick and lush from the winter's perpetual cool dampness and everywhere there were signs of wildlife walking the same paths I chose. I gathered strength form the tree that pushed aside a 4000 pound boulder to stand straight and tall in the clearing. Lying face up on the rock I peered through the dusty blue haze and tried to visualize space just on the other side of this thin protective envelope we call our atmosphere.

Walking to the south face, I marveled at the distorted perspective that made the Olympic Mountains seem close enough to touch, when a small dead spruce tree caught my attention. It was no more than two feet tall, standing in a small clearing to the south east of a clump of somewhat larger but still young trees, in what seemed to be good soil. Still it was stone cold dead. What, I wondered led me to this new place, to this clearing and to this tree. What insight was I about to receive?

That's when I heard it. That voice. That little voice that speaks a truth in my mind. A truth that is new to my consciousness but familiar to my understanding. Was it the little tree? Or maybe just the spark of life that Arnie, our 87 year old neighbour, told me is everlasting and is passed on from being to being? I'm not sure but the voice was clear as ever and it said:

"Dying is a gift. Look behind me there are two of my brothers, older than I who also stand in starkness as they have gone with me. Just behind them is the rest of my family. More trees who would have been shaded had my brothers decided to stay and compete for the sunlight. We have chosen to die to give them life. It is our gift to them."

The truth of this message brought tears to my eye. All of us are clinging to the life support of this planet as it hurtles through black space at frightening speeds. There is no place to go to escape our common fate. This planet is all there will ever be for almost all of us humans.

The Club of Rome in the sixties warned us of a "population bomb". Since then countless writers and statisticians have warned us of the perils of overpopulation. More people have been added to our numbers in the last 50 years than have been added since we first started to walk upright. Every year we add almost 100 million more. Almost 6 billion of us exist today on this planet and it is calculated that if present rates continue that number will climb to over 11 billion in another 40 years.

This timeframe is within my lifetime and definitely within the lifetime of your children and their children. Think of every major city on the globe. Visualize it in your minds eye. The traffic jams, the water requirements, the garbage problems, the hunger in some already, the slums, the sprawl of suburbia, the noise. Now imagine 2 of them and you will start to get the picture. Now fast forward that trend and you will discover that by the year 3500 the total mass of human flesh and blood will equal the mass of the earth and by the year 6800 it will equal the mass of the entire known universe.

So whether or not you believe that overpopulation is a problem now, there is no escaping the fact that unlimited growth is not possible never mind sustainable.

The trees have it figured out. Some grow to live a good long time. Others die early making room for their brothers and sisters. Giving up their seat on spaceship earth so that another can bathe in the golden glow of a winter's dawn. It is their gift to die. They give the gift of life.

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