Memento Mori

Good evening, mortals and morsels alike, and welcome once again to the Halloween Countdown. We will be dwelling in the darkness, contemplating corruption & perhaps even spreading a little spook as we count down the thirteen nights between now and Halloween. But, why ripe and ravenous little reader, do we begin our Halloween celebrations today? Well, I am your half-humble horror host, and today just so happens to be... my birthday. Sing With Me Now!:

Happy Birthday to You,
But Beware what You do...
Or this might be the Last Time...
That we Sing this to You!

Oh, but those words are somewhat apt, are they not? After all, for those of you just joining us, or who haven't been made aware... this is the Final Halloween Countdown, on this blog. Yes, it is a bit sad, I hear voices wailing from the basement as we speak. But, it was inevitable, after all. All things come to an end, eventually. We either stop while the going is good, or we drag on until we start to fester and rot. And since this is my THIRTEENTH Halloween Countdown, it just felt right.

Don't cry for me, I'll still be here. I have plans for stories and blog posts still to come. So, this blog will still be around... for a while anyway. As I said, it is inevitable. All things come to an end. Everything dies. One day, I too will die and this blog will end with me. It seems so apt that I always celebrate Halloween after my birthday, when I'm one year closer to death. Also, Halloween is all about Horror, and according to many psychologists and researchers, a lot of the most fundamental fears, not to mention the most common fears, ultimately come down to a fear of death and dying.
So, the Word of the Day, and final unifying theme for this Halloween Countdown has to be: "DEATH"

Death /deth/ n 1. The act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. Compare: brain death. 2. An instance of this: Death in the family; Letters published after his death. 3. The state of being dead: To lie still in death. 4. extinction; destruction: It will mean the death of our hopes. 5. Manner of dying: A hero's death. 6. Capitalized The agent of death personified, usually represented as a man or a skeleton carrying a scythe. Compare: Grim Reaper. 7. Christian Science The false belief that life comes to an end. 8. Bloodshed or murder: Hitler was responsible for the death of millions. 9. A cause or occasion of death: You'll be the death of me yet! 10. Archaic Pestilence; plague. Compare: Black Death.

Yes, the Final Halloween Countdown had to be all about death, as the Countdown itself is dying, but it's much more than that. I will keep writing the blog, but eventually I will die and the blog along with it. Even if someone else took over, they too will die one day. But, even if I were replaced by some virtual A.I. ghost haunting the internet with a computer's interpretation of my writing, even if this blog kept going on for centuries... eventually you will die too. Nothing lasts forever.

It's not the most pleasant thought depending on your predilections. But, it's as inevitable as it is true. Everything dies. And I don't mean things change to become a ghost—I am a horror author and I adore the power of a ghost story, but the one thing people seem to find more horrifying than ghosts is the reality that ghosts don't exist, that when you die you will be dead and gone. Become by dust, by dust undone.
It can be a horrifying thought, and it's not practical to think about it all of the time, as it can lead to existential horror and anxiety. As much as I love the screaming, it can become exhausting after a while. On the other hand, or stump, some people hate considering it at all and prefer to think of it none of the time. When you see through my eyes, both ways of thinking are doomed.

Existential death anxiety, a preponderance with one's own undoing, can be quite disabling. But, at the same time, don't kid yourself, kid. You, the person reading this blog post, you are not immortal. You are a squishy machine made of meat and muck and mushy stuff and it will break down one day into a fetid, unpleasant puddle of organs and goo. For that reason, I adore the memento mori.
That is to say, a Reminder of Death; the Morbid Memento, the Last Item on Everyone's To-Do List. You shouldn't think about your death all of the time, but you shouldn't forget it completely either. Rather, you should think of it some of the time, and so I think it's appropriate and necessary to be occasionally reminded that you are going to die.

After all, your death defines your life. Not only does it define the time limit, but it also defines your life's meaning and can affect your life's purpose. If you don't believe me, just look at religions and the way its zealots pray upon the meek and the helpless; the harm, the hatred and the suffering all caused in the name of an eternal life. Religion not only avoids this fact of life, it actively denies its existence. Which is why I'd like to clarity, I don't think that death itself is all that "meaningful", I'm saying that the indirect effect it has on your life, by ending it, requires that in order to have a well-informed purpose and meaning in life, one must consider the variable of death.

I adore Halloween and Horror for its ability to remind us of our fragile, fatal existence, but even my beloved horror can shy away from the realities of death, with ghosts, ghouls and grave-dodging fiends of all kinds. But this year, we shall not blink in the face of oblivion.

Welcome to the Final Halloween Countdown. Are you ready for what's in store?