To my surprise, I heard the other day that Generalissimo Francisco Franco was still dead. I just couldn't believe it. If there were anyone whom I thought would NOT be still dead, it would be him. He took so long to die that I thought for sure that he could at some point come back to life again. Well, I guess he didn't. Frankly, I'm disappointed. It would be quite the event, as coming back to life doesn't happen as often as those who can so easily expend it might think. The reverse process is a little more involved, except on soap operas where they pull it off on quite a regular basis. But sometimes, it's just the evil twin.
I'm sure there is some controversy as what constitutes a true coming back. I have heard of those who woke up in a morgue. Who knows what exactly happens in those cases. Similarly, near-death experiences are interesting but seem quite subjective. And anything like reincarnation appears to be something entirely different. So to really count, you should be dead for it at least a few days and regardless of how long, you should come back as you where or maybe a little improved.
When I was young, "by now he stinketh" was one of my favorite Bible verses. By the time I was a teenager, verses talking about breasts overtook any thoughts of a rotting corpse. But I didn't get very far from that imagery. Death became all too real and its finality was quite observable. To my knowledge, there have been no returns. ...Yet anyway.
But as I approach that inevitable moment, I'm entertaining a notion of what it might be like to return to Earth. Perhaps it would be to live life all over again in order to do the things I didn't get to do in this life. But I'm not so sure about dealing with all the things I didn't like for a second time. Going the other way, say a hundred years from now, I can't see were that much would change before I made it back. I suspect there would still be plenty to dislike, but also lots to like as well.
As much as I increasingly long for memorable days and wish I could redo some parts my life, I'm beginning to see there's no need to change or relive what is done, regardless the joy involved. I have been more fortunate than many, I've suffered what many haven't, I've made choices that only seemed right at the time, my world awareness grew from a small farm to a rather large cosmos, I've seen people at their best and at their worst, and I've seen truth as an ever moving target. ...But I would never say that any of it was meant to be.
