Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul

by Stephen Jenkinson

One of the things you’ll see, with respect, is that those eyes have seen the collapse, the withering, the end of a lot of things. They’ve seen the end of their old idea of a good time, the end of their spunk and their give-a-shit, and the end of their plans for what they would do with it if they had it, and the end of their vitality and of most of what they thought was vital. They’ve seen a lot of death of all kinds. They’ve seen the entire generation of their grandparents long ago go to ground, all of their parents, aunts, and uncles, all the people they were born to who welcomed them into the world and didn’t, who would show them the ropes and would not, die and end. They’ve seen the first source and proof of anything human they knew put in the dirt. They’ve seen most or all of the generation of their friends and enemies and peers and competitors buried and gone, and probably a good number of the generation younger than them, dead and no more. In all, a stunning pageant of the departed, all of it in there. Looking in their eyes, you’ll see what seeing death does.