For over an hour those who knew Glenn O’Dell spoke of the impact of his life upon them, and of what they had lost on account of his death.  I barely knew Glenn.  I was a late comer to the Socrates Café discussion group.  I remember that he made me welcome to the circle, and presented me with my name tag.  I wore the tag around my neck as a badge of membership.  Glenn, a self-taught electrical engineer, in his ninety’s had a quick wit, and a curious mind.

There are roundabout ways to speak of death:  death is a departure from this world, to die is to be “blown out” as the Buddhist would say.  The flame is extinguished.  Life is like a flame that endures for a limited season.  That’s none other than the second law of thermodynamics.  Systems evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium, the state with maximum entropy.  The law is basic to engineering.  I can visualize Glenn’s wry smile at reference to the law.

Certainly there are infinite ways to pass through the door of death.  Many would cause one to shudder, to imagine the physical suffering, the awareness of the slow ebb of the life of which one has found utter delight.   There are ways of coming to an end that we would label “a good death.”  Among those would be to pass on, after having lived for many years, the experience of love, and fulfillment of ones purposes.  That is how I would describe Glenn’s death.  Glenn died at ninety four.

Death is inevitable, an aspect of life.  Everything that lives also dies.  That is the natural course of things.  There are no observed exceptions.  There is no point to attempt to live on by amassing a pile of wealth, a reputation of magnificence.  Reputations fade, as do buildings, or monuments erected in any man’s name.  Also, what of the thousands of one’s fellows who were impoverished in the course of amassing the unconscionable pile of wealth?  What of their degraded quality of life, — does that figure into the equation?

Glenn O’Dell, farewell friend.

We who remain, need a song to get us through.  This is the one that we need.

And When I Die

I’m not scared of dying
And I, don’t really care
If it’s peace you find in dying
Well then, let the time be near

If it’s peace you find in dying
Well then dying time is near
Just bundle up my coffin
‘Cause it’s cold way down there
I hear that it’s
Cold way down there, yeah
Crazy cold, way down there

And when I die, and when I’m gone
There’ll be, one child born
In this world
To carry on, to carry on

Now troubles are many
They’re as
Deep as a well
I can swear there ain’t no Heaven
But I pray there ain’t no hell
Swear there ain’t no Heaven
And I’ll pray there ain’t no hell
But I’ll never know by livin’
Only my dyin’ will tell, yes only my
Dyin’ will tell, oh yeah
Only my dyin’ will tell

And when I die, and when I’m gone
There’ll be, one child born, in this world
To carry on, to carry on
Yeah yeah

Give me my freedom
For as long as I be
All I ask of livin’
Is to have no chains on me
All I ask of livin’
Is to have no chains on me
And all I ask of dyin’ is to
Go natrually, only wanna
Go naturally
Here I go!
Hey hey
Here come the devil
Right behind
Look out children, here he come
Here he come, heyyy

Don’t wanna go by the devil
Don’t wanna go by the demon
Don’t wanna go by satan
Don’t wann die uneasy
Just let me go
Naturally

And when I die, and when I’m dead
Dead and gone
There’ll be
One child born, in our world
To carry on, to carry on

lyrics written by Laura Nyro