(Philosocom's directory on death: https://www.philosocom.com/post/defining-death)
Despite my desire to not put trigger warnings in my articles, I suspect that this one could easily get the wrong idea about death. Therefore, I will begin this article by saying that death is not a good thing, especially if it was of unnatural causes.
By writing this article, I do not intend to promote death as a good thing, in any way, shape of form.
Now that's out of the way, there is something important that we should take into consideration, especially if, let's say, you came from a persecuted minority, such as the Jews, the Armenians and the Yezidi.
The common thing about these 3 examples, is that both of them were butchered by a larger force whom they couldn't surpass at the time.
For the Jews, which I'm descendant from, it's the Nazis who killed millions of my people, and one of my grandparent's first family.
For the Armenians it was the Ottomans during WWI, and for the Yezidi, a minority living in Iraq, it was ISIS, or Daesh, who persecuted them, and even used them as slaves, held them for ransom and so on (that is what I remember from watching the news, back when ISIS was a greater threat).
The "happy", the "good" or the "positive" things about these atrocities, however, is that death can lead to life. I am technically here because my great grandpa lost his first family to the Nazis, and eventually decided to move on.
Should his family had survived the genocide, then he would not, necessarily, have a reason to form a new family, as he already had one before the invasion to Poland.
Do you see now, how certain major events from the far past can influence the world, long after their obvious impact was made? Wars and genocides do not only butcher people but could also make other people be born.
I'm not saying this positively at all, and I'm not grateful for Hitler for butchering my people. All I'm saying is, is that if certain events in history, like genocides, didn't happen, then certain people wouldn't "replace" those who died beforehand.
So... yes, On the long run, I am here because of an event that happened long before I was born, AKA, the Jewish holocaust. It's not something I'm proud of, even though I did nothing wrong. I do wish I was born to people with more fortunate history, but that's too late now.
Now with this insight I have no other choice but to admit, that I'm a product of... Hitler's decisions. I'm glad this bastard failed, and that my great grandparents survived the holocaust, but there is still no deny that, even in massive actions of death, death can "create" life.
How does it "create" life? It does so when the widow or widower don't give up completely due to their loss. Death summons the possibility to move on, because if it weren't for it, then there would be no reason to move on, when you still have a family to care for and a partner to love.
It isn't that death encourage you to bring more lives to this world, it merely raises the possibility of it, of greater hope.
Truths are not always comfortable, and I won't pretend that this specific truth is. I may not know you personally, but take note that, if your people or nation survived an abysmal atrocity by a greater force, then you too might be a product of death, a product of condemnable history. That could, in theory, be possible for any European in general, simply because of the Nazis.
You see, Enoch didn't have to start over. He could've lived the rest of his life single and alone. It is why I feel that... my own life, is like a favour he did to me and to my relatives.
That also makes me uncomfortable and makes me want to "show" to him that his favour was not given in vain. That's why I feel that I've nothing else to live for, aside from writing to the world.
I feel as if, my life doesn't belong to me, but to his "spirit", to the idea that I need to "pay back" his favour. If I will not have kids like he did, then at least I will "justify" my existence otherwise.
Otherwise, what else do I have to live for, other than giving others the benefit, Enoch gave me, by him having a new wife and daughter, the latter being my grandma?
It would be very, very dumb of me, to thank the Nazis, so instead, I will thank Enoch, for deciding to move on in his life, for a brighter future in Israel.
That philosophy, of paying back a debt I don't necessarily have, to someone I never met, might appear weird to some. However, in the end, our time here is limited, and I don't want his decision to be in vain.
Thus, even if it is only to ensure my own worth to myself, I really feel that, leaving something here, after me, like he left something after him, would be a worthy tribute to him, who indirectly brought me here.
