Mundane Death
by Jay Paul To live, all must eat. Eating entails consuming dead plants and animals. We live through death. Birth and death is the pulse of nature. Well, this isn't entirely true. The flares of stars and their tendency to rhythmically spew elements into space, especially upon demise, is, perhaps, more fundamental. But from the human perspective, as an animal on earth, the pulse of nature that seems most relevant is that of birth and death. Our bodies will all be eaten. Even bodies embalmed with chemicals and sealed in plastic in a concrete grave will be found out by flesh eating bacteria. It is the fate of all humans, together with all animals, to end as food. However, this starts well before we die. While we are still alive, all sorts of mites are in our intestines and the rest of our body, feeding on us and, oftentimes, doing things that happen to aid us biologically. We couldn't live without certain bacteria eating away in and at our bodies. To live, we need to be eaten. Bei...