Speaking of death

By Nora Soriño

ILIGAN City — Last week, we saw some decors in several establishments here consisting of spiders complete with their white webs and black bats flying about inside a diner.

Why? It was because of the grimness associated with death. It is said that in this life, there are only two things that can’t be avoided– death and taxes.

Let’s zero in on death and leave the matter of taxes for the moment as they are simply too taxing to tackle, along with death.

I’ve met a person though in the course of some travels who said that “death is not something to be afraid of.” Because it’s a good place to be in. Take it from his experience, a Mr. Cobarrubias said. He has died two times and it was good. He could not fully describe it. He was at peace, very comfortable and he even wondered why he had to come back to life!

That was the first time I heard of somebody saying glowing things about a commonly believed a grim thing like death.

Well, even spiders and bats per se are not grim. Think Spiderman. Think Batman. Spiderman after being bitten by a spider, nothing was the same for him again. He became a superhero. And a superhero with a conscience.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” he said.

I wonder if Batman was bitten too by a bat first before he became a superhero.

And we think of the bat creature as a confused one. Is he a bird? Or is he an animal? Both birds or animals group refused him in their group, some story goes.

But us Pinoys leave our fate to him. We say “Bahala na si Batman.” So, he takes care of our fate?

It’s only an expression, though. “Death is not the end of life; it is just the ending of one cycle of life,” it is said. So there is life after death that one has to face. The standard belief is that he or she either goes to heaven or hell. And while we’re at it, I came across this thing about death which Jimmy, a lawyer friend had to say. He titled it as “Nothing to Worry.” It goes this way: “There’s nothing to worry about in our stay here in this world. For either, you are well, or you are sick. If you are well, then there’s nothing to worry about. If you are sick, then either you will get well, or you will die. If you will get well, then there’s nothing to worry about. If you die, either you go to heaven or hell. If you go to heaven, there’s nothing to worry about. If you go to hell, you will surely shake hands with your friends there! So, why worry?”

There’s another version of this life after death thing though. It is called “reincarnation.” Like this story about a couple who agreed that the first to die should tell about his life after.

The hubby (H) died first. So a few days after, he communicated with wifey (W). After some “how are you’s” H said he is good. Before saying some further details, he said, “Wait, I have to go. I see some good-looking female cows!”

“Why is that so?” W asked, mystified.

“I am now a cow,” was the answer.