I spent some time trying to find the best theme to open my column in this space. I wanted something that brought the idea of a beginning, a starting point. Something that had a calming idea and, at the same time, was uncomfortable. Well, having defined that profile, it didn't take me long to get to the central theme: death.
But what is death? A dark cloud that hangs over human life? A seemingly unknown point on the periphery of a Gaussian? A fierce and relentless animal chasing its prey and the one knowing that if it stumbles, gets tired or isn't quick and smart enough, it will inevitably be overtaken?
Willian Randolph Hearst forbade the use of that word, death, in his presence. Philip II, king of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great, on the contrary, even appointed a servant to say to him daily: “Remember, Philip, that you are going to die”.
It was Quintana who said: "Die, what do I care? (...) The devil is not living". For in his view, not living was certainly a bigger problem than death itself. Thought shared by Niels Bohr (the same as in the atomic model), when he declared that "the meaning of life is that there is no meaning in a meaningless life".
If Quintana is right, many of the heroic resources to prevent a patient from dying would actually be a violence to the principle of "ceasing to live", as there are pains that make some sense, such as childbirth: a new life is born. But there are pains that are not justified, such as prolonging a patient's agony to keep the doctor or family's conscience clear, for having done what the custom obliges, and that this custom is given the name of ethics, without questioning whether in fact there was "ethics", since "reverence for life" is the supreme ethical principle of love.
It is interesting to note that in health as a whole, you have a professional available for each peculiarity, but there is no "morteotherapist", a specialist professional to take care of those who they are dying. Taking care of the life that is getting ready to leave, so that it is smooth, pain-free and dignified, away from tubes, needles and environments that make us shiver.
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You will now be saying, very softly, that it is the duty of doctors to do what they can to keep life going. I agree, but I emphasize that it is not the exclusive duty of doctors, it is ours. I, in my way, also fight for life. Literature keeps Machado de Assis, Camões, Pessoa, Renato Russo, Agostinho and many others alive. The question is how far does life go and does survival begin?
Well, the subject was death, but I didn't see myself able to define it perfectly, maybe defining life, I can form a more exact concept of death. But after all, what is life? More precisely what is the life of a human being? Maybe a zig zig on a heart monitor? I believe it is something more than a beating heart and brain waves. I do not believe that the biological definition is the most complete, perhaps the most correct.
One day I was told that someone who avoids a passion dies slowly, who prefers black and white and the drops in the “is” to a vortex of indomitable emotions, precisely those that bring back a sparkle in the eyes, smiles and sobs, heart to stumbles... Feelings.
I see that the task of defining life is also complicated, is it possible to define it while alive? What will be said then, about the attempt to define death while alive?
But then, can we conclude that regardless of the knowledge of death and the difficulty of conceptualizing life, in fact life is worth it? I believe that this question would not belong to a man, but to an embryo.
Per Antunes Weide
Columnist Brazil School
