It's That Time of Year Again, Folks...

That's right, time for my annual, "I've Been Reading Depressing Books So Now I'll Make a Journal Entry About Death". You can call it my IBRDBSNIMAJEAB time of year. Or not.

So the book this time is Pet Semtary, by Mr. Stephen King. Warning, this has spoilers for the book in it.

So, basically, this guy, Louis, moves to a little town with his wife, Rachel, and his two kids, Ellie and Gage, and their cat. Don't forget the cat, Churchill, called Church. They move to a small town in Maine (!!!ARRG!) Anybody who's read Stephen King know that he sets EVERYTHING in Maine, and it's annoying. Anyway, long story short, when the cat dies, Louis learns that there is a burial place where anything buried in it comes back to life, and he uses this to bring Church back to life. Then his toddler son gets mashed by a truck. He buries him in the magic graveyard, despite his neighbors warning that Gage may come back as if possessed by a daemon. I'm almost done, so I don't know if he does, but I think so. Also, I think Rachel ends up dead as well.

So, this got me thinking. Why are we so rabid to avoid death. I mean, it's INEVITABLE! Hardly anyone looks forwards to it, although some do, but it's not gonna a change a simple fact: Once your time runs out, you can't do shit to keep going.

Have you ever read the short story THE MONKEY'S PAW? Recap: A family of three is sold a 'mystical monkey paw' that will grant three wishes. They wish for a thousand dollars and get it in the form of insurance money, after their son is killed. The mother uses the paw to wish for her son back. Something starts thumping on the door. The wife runs to open it, but the father freaks out and wishes that his son was still dead. The thumping stops and when the wife opens the door, there is nothing there.

Think though, what if she had opened the door a few seconds earlier? What would she have seen? Death. She would have been confronted with the one thing we all strive to avoid. It would have been staring her in the face in the form of her mouldering son. Some say it would have been better for her to open the door. It would have shown us how very VERY wrong her actions were.

And Stephen King is taking it a little bit further by actually opening the door and showing us what is behind it. "Look," he says, "Look what happens when you screw around with stuff better left alone." And he flings open the door and death stands there, rotting and dull-eyed, grinning it's eternal smile, and waiting for you to meet it.

Sound morbid?

That's my thought process right now. Books like this really get to me.

Can you tell?