Response

Immortality: The Timeless Trend Everyone Is Searching For

            Wedding vows hold the promise, and yet so do funerals; isn’t it odd how such opposites can both carry the wish for immortality? Married couples are united by the vows of everlasting love and an eternal bond, and the same couples, now split in two, are spoken words of eternal remembrance and everlasting respect. The idea of immortality is hard to ignore, with its fingers so intricately woven into the fabric of our world’s society and our human consciousness.

            How do those who are mortal define immortality? I suppose for some it's simply the idea of living for eternity, never aging as the millennia spin past in a blur of humanity. For others, the need for their memory to live on in their loved ones is enough to count as being eternal. Many more perhaps desire promise of a glorious legacy, their names and accomplishments to be spoken across centuries. What is it, then, that makes it an obsession of the human race, rather than just a simple dream? In my own mind, the fear of death surpasses all other fears; the terror of the unknown is one of the strongest traits of the human mind. If it were not, the sciences used worldwide to explain the unexplained would be obsolete.

            Memory could serve as a guide as well; autobiographies are written to tell the life stories of the people that want to be remembered. Anne Frank's diary became one of the most famous life stories in recent history, a story of a girl that struggled to live during the Holocaust; if she didn't fear she would die and be forgotten, it never would have been written. Similarly, there may be many who only wish to live a meaningful existence. In the story of Hercules, the Greek demigod refused to fight in the war his people were fighting, but when told his name would resound forever in history, he finally chose the path that would cause the most change and create meaning to his life.

            Yet where does the idea of immortality predominantly lie? What areas of human growth and advancement have clung to the age-old obsession? Gods are assumed to be eternal; never aging, always unchanged, forever present. And when those that believe are told to follow the laws of their holy book in order to spend eternity in heaven, the honest and good-intentioned will do as commanded. But the liars and crooks seem to spend it in hell, tortured for eternity among devils and demons; is that truly the immortality that religion holds for some that don't meet its divine standards?

            Certainly the thoughts of demons is prevalent in our society; vampire films, novels, television series, they all romanticize the idea of what it means to be live beyond what is natural. In Anne Rice's novels, the undead are more beautiful than any human and have the ability to feed on the life force of other creatures to sustain themselves. This raises the question of what is morally and ethically right to do in order to obtain infinite life, and what humans contemplate in the deepest reaches of their minds. Are we to assume that all of us are not inherently as good as we think, instead having twisted desires to do what is necessary to get this eternal existence? And in some instances, is not just immortal life we're after, but also immortal youth?

            In reference to today's fascination with remaining young and beautiful, I think the answer could be yes. Every advertisement in a woman's magazine is aimed to sell products that will rejuvenate what is old, remove what seems tired, and hide any semblance of imperfection. Plastic surgery seems to only lend more fuel to the fire; skin is sliced off, bones are cut to shape, and entire faces are reworked to keep the appearance of youth. Can this mean that, in the pursuit of immortality, humans are willing to lose themselves as long as they can live forever? Perhaps it only matters how much of yourself you're willing to lose.

            Worth is an abstract concept; money, valuables, and people can all be worth someone; intrinsic value seems to have the most pull when regarding personal decisions. So is immortality, both literal and figurative, something worth hoping for in the recesses of our soul, or even actively working for? Religion, for instance, is often used to seek strength during times of hardship with the promise of eternal life at the end of your troubles. While some find the idea foolish, many find comfort in the idea of living forever with the loved ones they have lost, and that can be an incredibly strong incentive to continue believing in eternal life.

            On the other side, there does exist that need to live a life so full of accomplishment that your name is spoken down through generations. Grandparents fighting in wars, parents creating for themselves a wealthy empire from their own hands, and children wanting to live up to the greatness of those that came before them. What is a legacy but something you consider so great and important that you will live on in the things you have done? My legacy to my children, and my children's children, will be the love and appreciation for reading and books; my need to bring importance to my life is its own for of a want for immortality.

            Beauty products, plastic surgery, and diets are ways to reach the goal of youth and its prolonged appearance; another way to make your mark on the world. Decades later, names of great beauties like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor can inspire strong images of perfection, youth, and an eternal image in the minds of many. Despite the lengths many will go to simply reach the perfection aspect, others still could easily be aspiring to be one of those household names once their time is over.

            I have read many stories about the damned and undead, watched as the beauty industry grew and unfolded before my eyes, and have heard the stories of famous deeds from long-ago histories. Immortality, it seems, is a concept we as humans have never quite forgotten. But in this world where a century-long life is the longest thing we experience, that may not be so strange.