Life > Loss

I recently wrote abstractly about language & risk the piece led me to a tangible insight: tangible moments and experiences (such as loss) are more important to me than abstractions like risk. Reflecting on the idea that I might go from thinking about risk to thinking about loss, I noticed that insurance appears to be a death cult. The obsession with terrible outcomes and losses is inherent in a business that compensates disaster & accident victims with money. Not quite mortuary science, but actuary is close (particularly in life insurance). So most of the rest of the world has been on board for a long time, and I now feel as though I understand why. Society needs insurance companies, but these entities deal with needs that were tragically unmet and the feelings that go along with those failed needs. Wouldn’t life be better if I dealt with life, with growth, and with vital experiences, rather than wallow in an industry that makes money because people get hurt in relatively predictable ways? To help people before they get to be in need, rather than manipulate people to feel they will need you, take their money, and then hope they never do need you. It would be like a government taking people’s tax money and making sure the world doesn’t change for the better (setting aside how often this happens). My realization is blossoming into a resolution: to support, feed, and embrace life, not to hope for pain while waiting for death. Maybe it means working to make the air a bit cleaner. Or writing an extra poem a day. Or having children (let’s not get ahead of ourselves – more houseplants). Or finding ways to help people communicate better and appreciate each other more. Or meditating while cycling (eyes open). Whatever the living looks like, I don’t need to make my life about the losses, the moves, the grief. Mourning, compassion, and spontaneous feelings aside, I’ll take an equity stake in life over an insurance policy on living.