Episode Fourteen - Death

Ezra responds to a query from a listener who wants to know what he thinks about death and the afterlife.

Transcript

Episode Fourteen:  Death

Ezra:  Well…so now the word’s out…you know how it goes…yeah, I’ve been hearin’ lately from a few, well, quite a few listeners, quite a few, actually, so thank you for that, expressing your concern about the cancer. Um…so thank you. Thank you very much. And I thought that we’d, um…well, so a couple o’ days ago --- I never mention listeners’ names but, uh, a couple’o days ago here I got a question from, uh…Stephanie…and Stephanie says, uh…[clears throat] “Dear Ezra, where are you on death and the afterlife?” [Chuckles] Where am I on death --- Jesus, Stephanie, why don't you just get to the point, huh, where am I on death, oh my, well …so I lost my father years ago, to cancer, and I'd say that was the, uh, the first real brush I had, with death.  Jesus, what they put that poor man through…uh, but anyway, I was, I was feelin’ pretty empty when he died.  Like a lot of people, I, I, I didn’t see much point in goin’ on after that, so…there's this thing people talk about, uh, survivor guilt…and I think I, I came away from that experience with a serious case of survivor guilt, uh, because, um --- I thought my father, I thought my father deserved to live more than I did, so, when he died I figured I should die, too, that kind of thing, um, I think that's basically what survivor guilt is, isn't it, it’s, yeah…so, so, so since I've been, uh, I've been diagnosed, with cancer --- and I know it sounds, uh, screwed up --- but I welcomed the news. I said to myself, well, it's about time. I've lived way much longer than my father, lived older, to an older age, than my father, and that should be enough.

Now, as for the afterlife…hm…hm…well…so it's not, it’s not exactly like I, I expect, when I go, I don't, I don’t expect to, you know, roll over and see my father sittin’ there, waitin’ for me, I ain't that stupid, but…but there's, there’s somethin’ there, in the ether, you know, that maybe, uh, maybe the livin’ and the dead do share a kind of, uh, a kind of vibe, if you will, um, a, a recognition, maybe…a, a, a moment, a weird kind of recognition moment, that, uh, we're bein’ reconnected. Now maybe that’s a moment that just sort o’ goes on and on, or maybe it’ll just be the final moment before, lights out, and there’s not much difference between the two, when you think about it, so…or, but maybe it’s just, maybe it’ll just be a relief, to do what I…what I need to do, to pay the debt I owe to my father, by dyin’. So it won't be long now and we'll be square, you see?  Yeah…so thank you, Stephanie, for your question. I, uh, I don't know how you got the nerve to ask it, but good for you.

This Time Another Year You May Be Gone, by Rev. Edward W. Clayborn

This time another year I may be gone
To some lonesome graveyard, good Lord, how long?

Deacon, this time another year you may be gone
To some lonesome graveyard, good Lord, how long?