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rivkaAlex: How old is the real baby Jesus now? (NB: We have recently discussed the fact that "the real baby Jesus" won't be at our Christmas pageant because that story happened a long time ago.)
Me: Um. The real baby Jesus was born very very long ago, thousands of years, and people can't live for that many years. So he died a long time ago. (Considers, and rejects, introducing the idea that some people believe in the Resurrection.)
Alex: Why?
Me: ...Because the earth is very old, and people have lived on earth for such a very long time. They were born, they grew up, they got old, and they died, and then new people grew up and got old and died. That's how it is.
Alex: (firmly) I'm never, ever going to die.
Me: Good! (suddenly realizes where this probably came from.) ...You know, usually children *don't* die. Children almost always grow up and live for a long time.
Alex: What if they have a long sickness?
Me: Even when children have a long sickness, they usually don't die. Their doctors can usually figure out the right medicine to give them.
Alex: (sounding satisfied) Their doctors are detectives.
Me: That's right.
I guess that to a kid who has only encountered the concept of death as an intimate and personal tragedy (Grandma Nancy had a long sickness, and she died, and it's so sad that Papa still sometimes cries when we talk about it), the idea that most people who have ever lived are dead now is incomprehensible.
It's not just the idea that everyone dies someday, although we have introduced that idea and apparently it didn't take. It's the idea of generations upon generations of dead people. Laura and Mary Ingalls are long dead now, and so is Blackbeard, and so is everyone else who lived in the "old-fashioned times" that Alex has been interested in learning about, and there were, literally, countless generations who lived and died before them.
Golden boys and girls all must
Like chimney sweepers, come to dust.
And this is not the sort of thing I tend to think about, until I suddenly find myself saddled with the responsibility of explaining it.
Me: Um. The real baby Jesus was born very very long ago, thousands of years, and people can't live for that many years. So he died a long time ago. (Considers, and rejects, introducing the idea that some people believe in the Resurrection.)
Alex: Why?
Me: ...Because the earth is very old, and people have lived on earth for such a very long time. They were born, they grew up, they got old, and they died, and then new people grew up and got old and died. That's how it is.
Alex: (firmly) I'm never, ever going to die.
Me: Good! (suddenly realizes where this probably came from.) ...You know, usually children *don't* die. Children almost always grow up and live for a long time.
Alex: What if they have a long sickness?
Me: Even when children have a long sickness, they usually don't die. Their doctors can usually figure out the right medicine to give them.
Alex: (sounding satisfied) Their doctors are detectives.
Me: That's right.
I guess that to a kid who has only encountered the concept of death as an intimate and personal tragedy (Grandma Nancy had a long sickness, and she died, and it's so sad that Papa still sometimes cries when we talk about it), the idea that most people who have ever lived are dead now is incomprehensible.
It's not just the idea that everyone dies someday, although we have introduced that idea and apparently it didn't take. It's the idea of generations upon generations of dead people. Laura and Mary Ingalls are long dead now, and so is Blackbeard, and so is everyone else who lived in the "old-fashioned times" that Alex has been interested in learning about, and there were, literally, countless generations who lived and died before them.
Golden boys and girls all must
Like chimney sweepers, come to dust.
And this is not the sort of thing I tend to think about, until I suddenly find myself saddled with the responsibility of explaining it.
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Date: 2008-12-04 07:40 pm (UTC)Oh jeez. Honestly? I would probably cry.
And then I think I'd have to admit that we don't know for sure when any person will die, that most people live to be quite old and some die when they're not old at all. And that the best we can do is to try to take care of each other and stay healthy: wear our seatbelts, cross the street carefully, eat healthy foods, visit the doctor, stay away from guns...
Linnea asked?
no subject
Date: 2008-12-04 08:34 pm (UTC)Also, "If you're finished growing, you're going to die, right?"
She's not upset by this stuff, though it's obviously on her mind. My mum was a bit upset by it. I'm not thrilled.
Mainly, I've stuck with "Not for a long, long, long time."