DIE

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize

The Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize??”

This is the cruelty of being a human – that we have the ability to understand that our existence will end. We know we are going to die someday, and that all our living days wind to the same destination. One way or another,this knowledge shadows everything we do, although to be able to function effectively we must push it aside most of the time. To dwell on death for too long is to steal a bit of the time you have, and you still won’t be any closer to outsmarting it.

It’s quite an anxiety-producing thought, isn’t it? You know you will go, but you don’t know when or how, if you will be alone or not, frightened or peaceful. You may be able to make a pretty good guess, but you don’t know.

What will be the last sound you hear? Will it be the explosive sounds of metal twisting, glass shattering, your own terrified screams? The steady mechanical breathing whir of a ventilator, the electronic beep of a heart monitor? A quiet cry from one of your children, begging for you not to go just yet? A television show you don’t even like? Your own last ragged sigh, then silence?

Will you be staring at a beige wall? A truck that swerves into your lane? Your own hands, unrecognizably ancient? The rage-filled face of a stranger, or worse, loved one? Will you struggle desperately for air as liquid fills your lungs in a salty ocean or from pneumonia? Will you be in so much pain you beg anyone who will listen to help you die? Will you fight harder than you have ever fought before just for one more minute? Will you stop fighting and let go?

Will you cry? Will you smile? Will you know, or will you already be too far gone? Will you have the time to say goodbye, or will everything just without warning go black one day and that is it?

You could drive yourself crazy. It is little wonder why people feel the need to construct spiritual or religious answers to death. After all, if you believe there is a heaven or even that you could be reincarnated and start all over again here, that should remove a great deal of the disturbing thoughts about death, right? We are egotistical at the core, and cannot comprehend the world without us, so we often must whip up a concept wherein at least the soul – that what is uniquely us, for lack of a better term – never is terminated. You can see why this is a real help to folks.

Do you realize, that everyone you know, someday, will die?

Of course you do. You are human.

I will leave the last word to Woody Allen and songwriters Carl Sigman and Herb Magidson. Please, to enjoy.