Long Live The Accomplished

Though we like to wish differently, we all know that at some point in our lives we will reach the end of the road. We all know that someday we will have to end our journey and we will in fact die. There is no stopping this process, though many have tried. The great Gilgamesh was one of those who tried to reach the "deathlessness" we call immortality, but he too was denied access into such an elite fraternity. Upon his search for immortality, Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh that "There is no permanence." From this point on, we as humans have realized that we will die, and there is no such thing as being a permanent figure.

To those out there that wish they could be immortal, this is a clear disappointment. But what does this really mean for humanity? This means that there comes an end to everything, on a more literal sense. This means that though we may strive to conquer all and be the best, we will become overthrown by a force that is not controllable. Even if a great hero in our lives could be undefeated in his life, he too will be conquered by death. For humanity, this is quite a downfall. We now lose a lot of the confidence we have as humans because of this knowledge of mortality. This obviously affects our everyday lives. Everywhere we go in our world there is a sense of mortality. If we could not die, there would be no such thing as helmets, or railings, or whatever else may help us in near death experiences. Each day, though we don't do it on purpose, we find ourselves running away from this dead end.

However, there is a way that Gilgamesh reaches a sense of immortality on his journey. Though we may die, we too can find immortality in one form or the other. Gilgamesh found his by being such a dominant hero and living such a great life and journey. Through this, he achieved respect and honor from his people. With respect and honor he would go down in history with all of posterity. Through these such things, like making a name for ourselves, we can become "immortal." We can create a sense of eternal life by achieving something. It does not have to be a big accomplishment, but anything noticed by others has potential to be an "immortal" story.

Though death will come our way at some point in our lives, Gilgamesh showed all of humanity that there is hope for immortality. Not physically staying alive, but staying alive in society, through the actions and achievements in your lifetime. Like James Taylor said, "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time." If we enjoy our lives and make something of them, we have conquered mortality itself.