Living with death
At the time of writing these lines, sixty people have died at the headquarters of the Fiella-Sant Hospital Foundation of Tremp in Lleida as a result of an outbreak of COVID-19. This means that in less than a month 40 per cent of the 143 residents have died, 1 per cent of the 6,000 inhabitants of the capital, Pallars Jussà. There is no comfort for a region in shock.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, in the first five months of 2020 there were 231,014 deaths in the Spanish State, 43,537 more than in the same period of the previous year. This means an increase of 23.2%, drawing an upward trend, and we will surely close this fatal year with a record number.
"We continue to live on our backs to a reality as enduring as life itself: death. And I refuse to look around."
Most of the deaths have come in a context of the solitude of the victims, confined and without contact with their affective environment, and the relatives have not been able to say goodbye or celebrate the traditional funeral rituals normally. All this has meant a greater emotional impact, a situation of anguish and a difficult grieving process, according to all the experts.
However, we continue to live on our backs to a reality as enduring as life itself: death. And I refuse to look around, because sooner or later we will all have to face it. As has happened to so many people, in this cursed 2020, two weeks ago, one of my uncles has gone forever.
Luckily or by chance, the day before I received the sad news, I was lucky enough to interview Kilian Jornet, the most versatile mountaineer for many. Despite having lost several people in his career, he told me that, despite knowing that he is endangered in some of his sports activities, he continues to go to the mountain to feel alive: “There is a fear that keeps us alive, that makes you not jump when you are in the ravine.”
Soon after, in a cold tanatory without hugs, I remembered his words and reflected on how this dehumanizing system pushes us to daily stress, surrounded by concrete, in which we lose contact with the essence of our own life and its natural cycles. This may be one of the causes of the horror that death brings us, as it is the time when we find ourselves in the void that it leaves. So we want to keep lucky enough to reconnect with the value of life and continue to breathe.
Recently, the Congress of Deputies passed the first euthanasia law, which will ratify the right to a dignified death. This will put an end to the long waits and unjust suffering of people who suffer irreversible situations and want them. You'll live in our memory, never dies the one who doesn't forget. Perhaps the best tribute we can pay is to keep fighting for a life that is worth living. For you.
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