Awareness of Death

So far this semester the images of the past keep coming up. My literature class assigned me two historic books to read regarding the horrific period that the Jewish people faced during World War II. These two books, Night by Elie Wiesel (Wiesel) and the Diary of Anne Frank (Frank), are records of a truly appalling and historical moment in time. They are testimonies of one of the most gruesome times in history. As Elie Wiesel states in the prelude to his book, “In retrospect I must congress that I do not know, or no longer know, what I wanted to achieve with my words. I only that without this testimony, my life as a writer—or my life, period—would not have become what it is: that of a witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try and prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory.” (Wiesel p. viii)When I read this statement I realized that these accounts, or any account on history, are truly important to the world so that no one else has to suffer the horrors of such tragedies.. It also made me aware of the significance of such events. I did not face the horrors that people in Europe faced during World War II, but even as young as I am I have witnessed historic and horrible events, like September 11 and even natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

These kinds of events can open people’s eyes and make them take a step back to look at their life. This seems to be a natural occurrence when historical events come up in a person’s life. They make them realize how fragile their lives are and how in an instant it could be over. There is a theory that seems to coincide with this feeling that, and I’m sure countless others got after reading these two books. In a quote on the Terror Management theory explains human’s unique ability to be aware of our own death “the explicit awareness of death and the potential for debilitating terror engendered by this awareness is the most significant event in the evolutionary history of our species.” (Solomon) In this statement, you can assume that it is referring to human’s ability to perceive, or picture, our own death, unlike many other species. This ability that we cope with the idea of our eventual death just adds to the idea of humans as being the superior species on Earth. This theory was most intensely used in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Most people go day to day, in their own world, not even thinking that they could die at any given moment due to any number of things. I think that tragic events, such as 9/11 and the Holocaust help remind people of their own fragility and make them realize that their lives are constantly on the path to their own eventual death. When events or natural disasters occur the shield that generally protects people from such thoughts and horrific ideas lifts up and reality sets in. In that regard, I feel that people have to be aware of such events and understand that death is inevitable. Not only that but people must do everything in their power to not forget, or push aside, the events that help remind them about their lives and how fragile humans truly are to themselves as well as nature.

Cited:
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Hill and Wang, 1958
Frank, Anne. The Diary of Anne Frank.
Solomon, Sheldon, Jeff Greenburg, Tom Pyszczynski. Fear of Death and Human Destructiveness. Psychoanalytic Review Vol. 90(4), August 2003, pg 457-474. *Library Link wouldn’t allow me to access database to get the link for this article*