Who By Very Slow Decay [Classic]

[Trigger warning: Death, pain, suffering, sadness]

I.

Some people, having completed the traditional forms of empty speculation – "What do you want to be when you grow up?", "If you could bang any celebrity who would it be?" – turn to "What will you say as your last words?"

Sounds like a valid question. You can go out with a wisecrack, like Oscar Wilde ("Either this wallpaper goes or I do"). Or with piety and humility, like Jesus ("Into thy hands, o Father, I commend my spirit.") Or burning with defiance, like Karl Marx ("Last words are for fools who haven't said enough.")

Well, this is an atheist/skeptic blog, so let me do my job of puncturing all your pleasant dreams. You'll probably never become an astronaut. You're not going to bang Emma Watson. And your last words will probably be something like "mmmrrrgggg graaaaaaaaaaaHAAACK!"

I guess I always pictured dying as – unless you got hit by a truck or something – a bittersweet and strangely beautiful process. You'd grow older and weaker and gradually get some disease and feel your time was upon you. You'd be in a nice big bed at home with all your friends and family gathered around. You'd gradually feel the darkness closing in. You'd tell them all how much you loved them, there would be tears, you would say something witty or pious or defiant, and then you would close your eyes and drift away into a dreamless sleep.

And I think this happens sometimes. For all I know, maybe it happens quite a lot. If it does, I never see these people. They very wisely stay far away from hospitals and the medical system in general. I see the other kind of people.