The Everyday Human

April: On Nature April 2 Today's reflection was inspired by the poem "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver.  One of the greatest lies we’ve ever adopted, ever believed as humans, is that we are separate from nature—or the idea that we somehow are above it and rule over it.  This separation is akin to attempting to pull apart the present from the past, or ripping the day from the night. It has...

April: On Nature April 1 Today begins a new month, and with it, we say goodbye to the theme of March, which was On Death, and hello to a new theme of April: On Nature.  To kick us off, this episode was inspired by the poem “April Rain Song” by Langston Hughes.  I’d hear the rain start slow, then hammer down on the roof and my window faster, and it’d put a stop to whatever it was I was doing, and I...

March: On Death March 31 Today's reflection was inspired by John Keats' poem "Ode to a Nightingale." We often want what we can't get. That's another odd yet fundamental aspect of human nature. Immortality, something we already looked at in previous reflections, for instance. Or at least the desire to live on in one way, shape, or form after we're gone. Why do we...

*Bonus Episode* March: On Death March 31 Today's second reflection was inspired by the poem "Canticle" by Wendell Berry. We all interact with Death in different ways. We all have different relationships with it.  But what influences those relationships? Your culture? Religion? Country? Upbringing? We're told that in order to reach a glorious afterlife, the physical body must de...

March: On Death March 30 Today's reflection was inspired by the song "This Is Not an Exit" by Saves the Day. You can hope for a long life that has a nice and comfortable ending that sees you surrounded by your loved ones in your home or garden with the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing and birds singing as you slip away to the other side. But you just don't know when you&ap...

March: On Death March 29 Today's reflection was inspired by the song "The Green Fields of France" by Eric Bogle. You can study it, write about it, protest it, loathe it, but it seems that from the beginning and at least until this point in time, that it has always been with us. That violence and death at scale are a part of humanity despite grand and sweeping declarations of peace....

March: On Death March 28 Today's reflection was inspired by the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. The textbooks and governments and politicians and propaganda outlets would all have you believe that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. You are told that it is good to offer the one thing that is truly yours in this world—your life—so that borders may be m...

March: On Death March 27 Today's reflection was inspired by a haiku by Matsuo Bashō. This reflection deals primarily with the subject of child death. If you are sensitive to this subject, I'll be back tomorrow with another reflection should you decide to skip this one. The parent whose child has died will forever bend with the weight, but they also have a choice: They can let the weight...

March: On Death March 26 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from A.D. After Death by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire. Nothing can escape it.  Because how can you escape something that is inevitable? Something that simply was, is, and will always be? Why would you try? Why would any of us try? Whether you see it or not, acknowledge it or not, Death walks beside you always. But the child i...

March: On Death March 25 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Daytripper by   Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá. Most of us, if not all of us, will at times act as though there will always be a tomorrow and our stories will go on forever, but for many living today, tomorrow will never come.  It could not come for you, it could not come for me, but understanding and acknowledging that fac...

March: On Death March 24 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. As a young child, my greatest fear was burning in hell for my sins.  It took me a while before I was able to see through the bars of the prison I found myself in. One of religion, strict rules and laws that didn't make sense to me. But as I grew older, I began to see the many...

March: On Death March 23 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Shakespeare's  Romeo and Juliet. There is a certain desperation that comes upon us when our loved ones pass. A desperation to never forget and push back on the universe and what it has taken from us. Will you remember in big ways, carving a statue or making a memorial or tribute? Or in small ways, watching a leaf fl...

March: On Death March 22 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Natalie Babbitt's novel Tuck Everlasting. The number 117 billion is our best assumption at the number of humans who have ever lived on Earth.  And all of those 109 billion people who came before us—our ancestors—all had their turn at life. They had their turn, they did the best they could (for the most part, maybe)...

March: On Death March 21 Today's reflection was inspired by Clare Harner's poem "Immortality." Immortality—something that humans have dreamed of since we became conscious of our own short and precious lifespan. Books have been written on it, movies made, and quests undergone by hopeful travelers in search of legendary fountains from which to drink everlasting youth.  And today,...

March: On Death March 20 Today's reflection was inspired by John Donne's poem "No Man Is an Island." Every day you see stats in the news, jumbling up human lives into a number or a point on a graph. But you must remember that each point on the graph, each number in a headline was a human being —just like you. They had friends and family and dreams and hopes and struggles and pa...

March: On Death March 19 Today's reflection was inspired by the Flogging Molly song "If I Ever Leave This World Alive." It’s a nice thought to think that if you ever leave before your loved ones that you’d have the chance to still thank them for everything they did for you. It’s lovely to think that you’d be able to come back and sit beside their feet—to take their sorrow and be the...

March: On Death March 18 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King.  Some will say, wrongfully, “Do not cry. It is a weakness.” Some might say, wrongfully, “Do not cry, they would want you to be happy.”  You may feel that if you cry you are acquiescing to the reality of Death’s demands. And the tears will be painted evil and caged within and...

March: On Death March 17 Today's reflection was inspired by the poem "Death" by William Butler Yeats. Death walks next to you every day. He stands over your bed every night. You brush him off and say, “Not yet,” but with courage, you do not tell him to be gone because you know Death to the bone, like an old friend. He’s a part of you, just as much as your fingers or hair.  The exper...

March: On Death March 16 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Herakles by Euripedes.  It is a powerful thing—grief and our ability to mourn and refuse to let go of the dead.  We have things to say that we wished we would have said when they were still here. We long to see their faces just one more time. We dream of their scent and touch, so much so that it can drive us to madness....

March: On Death March 15 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Notes on Grief. Since the beginning of humans, we've found ways by which to remember those we have lost. We hold on to items they may have loved in life. We leave their rooms the way they were when they said their last goodbye. We get tattoos of something that reminds us of them. Once...

March: On Death March 14 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from the video game  The Last of Us. There are many types of death—the death of innocence, of a certain period in life, the death of a family (metaphorically speaking), and of course, a literal death.  With them, come the many flavors of survivor’s guilt. And whether it’s through surviving traumatic experiences and carrying l...

March: On Death March 13 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Howard Dietz.  Make a list right now—in your journal or in your mind: three things you want to accomplish before you die.  These could be big things like traveling to a new country or writing a novel, or they could be small like planting a garden or taking your partner out on a date to the new cafe in town. Now go ahead...

March: On Death March 12 Today's reflection was inspired by another poem by Stephen Crane: "I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon" There is no person more human than the man pursuing the horizon. He is forever chasing life and eternally running from death. Others will say it is futile, and he knows this to be true. A lesser being would take those words and concede, but not the human. Unt...

March: On Death March 11 Today's reflection was inspired by another poem by Emily Dickinson, "Because I Could not Stop for Death." We all have our own perceptions of Death--our own beliefs of what it might look like, what our journey with it might be like. These perceptions are shaped by certain traditions and beliefs that we've been taught about Death from a young age. But hav...

March: On Death March 10 Today's reflection was inspired by an untitled poem by Sanober Khan. Your life, everything in it, and this moment are fleeting. Ephemeral.  That is part of what gives our existence its beauty. Like a tulip in the spring, they bloom and stand tall and bright for all to see, and in a few short weeks, the petals fall, but the impression they make remains. Nothing lasts a...