PREFACE: no. 076 [welcome to the black parade...]

"Welcome To The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance

"We all die.
The goal isn't to live forever,
the goal is to create something that will..."

When I was a young boy

My father took me into the city
to see a marching band
He said son when you grow up
Would you be the savior of the broken
The beaten and the damned?
He said will you
Defeat them
Your demons
And all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?
Because one day
I'll leave you
A phantom
To lead you in the summer
To join The Black Parade

“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.”

“The first step to eternal life, is you have to die.”

“Only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the effort. In death we become heroes.”

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

"Our life dreams the Utopia. Our death achieves the ideal."

"Death is the dropping of the flower, so that the fruit may swell."

"Death, in itself, is nothing; but we fear, to be we know not what, we know not where..."

I've had my fair share of dealings with death. I think I've almost tricked myself into believing that I am not afraid of it, and I think for the most part I'm not. However, I do have a fear for things I do not understand, and I do not anywhere near understand the phenomenon known as death.

I get it to a certain point. I understand it's necessity, I understand it's being, but sometimes it's just not fair. It's too soon, it's too late, it came out of nowhere, it gave no warning. Death is remorseless, uncaring, swooping in and doing it's deed. Yet we as a society look at it is as this horrible thing; the end, the thing we must avoid, judgment, etc. I'm not a religious person, but I like to believe that death is a celebration, a party, for something more, for a new beginning, for a new life. May it be heaven, Utopia, what have you, I just like to believe that after all is said and done that there is something better than this.

I'd have to steal the idea from My Chemical Romance, I love the idea of a parade celebrating a death. It's not something to mourn, or to cry about, because whether or not we want to accept it, they're lucky, because they've accomplished what they needed to here, and they are so blessed to be able to start that new chapter, even if it hurts us to stay behind.

Death only hurts for those of us left behind to deal with the pain of missing who we've lost. I think to the dead it's a celebration of life. Of the life they've lived, to the lives they've touched, and to the new life they have yet to discover.

I think if I didn't believe in this that death would be too much to bear. Call it dark, call it demented, call it what you will, I call it faith. While I may not have faith in a man born of a virgin or any other type of organized belief I do believe that death is only the beginning to something much, much greater than anything any of us can comprehend.

I like to think that in death those that have gone before us come to welcome us to the next chapter. It may sound corny, or sappy, or what have you, but it's what I believe. Death isn't something to be feared, or hated, or looked at in a negative light. Death is all around us.

Do or die
You'll never make me
Because the world
Will never take my heart
Go and try
You'll never break me
We want it all
We wanna play this part
I won't explain
Or say I'm sorry
I'm unashamed
I'm gonna show my scar
Give a cheer
For all the broken
Listen here
Because it's who we are
I'm just a man
I'm not a hero
Just a boy
Who had to sing this song
I'm just a man
I'm not a hero
I
Don't
Care! 
We'll carry on...

Everything good in life comes to an end; whether it be a relationship, a journey, a chapter, a song, or even a life. Death happens every day, at every second, somewhere. And with each death a new beginning follows. Everything happens for a reason, even death.

And as this chapter comes to an end, in more ways than anyone could ever understand, I stay behind and move on at the same time, keeping the memories close, ready for that next chapter to begin, and for many, many stories to unfold, and to be written.

And as for the main part of this blog, we will keep our heads up high, and remember the lessons learned, and we will do our best to carry on...

Dedicated in memory of Hernan Tataje