Life and the half-eaten sandwich...

Prologue: For those who caught the catchy title hoping that this post relates to the auctioning of Britney Spears’ half eaten sandwich on e-bay, please take a hike.

And well, those of you who never knew of such an auction and now are curious like a cat to know more about it, refer this.

Now on to the topic...

This morning as I was getting up after having my breakfast at the office cafeteria, I noticed a half eaten sandwich abandoned on a plate at another table. I scowled at the sight since I am strong believer of the theory that the food should never be wasted. I stood there for a few seconds to see if the person who had left his plate would show some civic sense to come back and clear his table at least. Well, as expected that did not happen and moments later a house attendant came around and cleared the table. The plate was removed and the half-eaten or rather the half left-over sandwich was taken away and thrown in the garbage bin. 

This brief meaningless routine got me thinking and soon my thoughts took a different flight. I imagined the entire scene as it might have happened.

Someone would have come to the cafeteria and looked through the glass counter where the sandwich was resting with his fellow bread mates. Out of his clan, it was this particular piece, which got picked by a pair of tongs and got served on this someone’s plate. Now, this person would have sat and bitten into his meal and sometime when he was half way through eating, one of the following three things would have happened. He either lost interest in his sandwich and left without finishing it or got called off somewhere and had to leave his meal halfway or maybe just had his fill and could not eat anymore and hence left half of his sandwich on the plate.

A simple episode on a regular day one would say. I thought it was analogous to life. Life too, gives you one of the three options.

There are cases when life seems like an unending misery, then you just get tired of it and end it. In the second case one might be forced to quit his life by virtue of some catastrophe or accident and in the third case, one has his fill and arrives at an end as a natural conclusion. You may still leave your tasks half way but then these mortal tasks become immaterial and one is not bothered anymore of the unfinished business left behind.

It was quite an abstract thought as it occurred to me, but as I reflected on it a little later, it got deep and disturbing.

Which course was I on? I asked myself. I had no clear answer. Maybe looking at the way I have been whiling my time on this planet, I was more likely to be tired of monotonous ways of life than have my fill. Of course one can never rule out an accident on the road. But then, the point that still persisted was what was cut out for me?

All along I have been living like any other animal on the face of this Earth performing my primeval basic functions - eating, drinking, sleeping, procreating and I would eventually die. One day, everything shall cease to exist for me. This blog and all its posts would be lost. And as time would go by, there won’t be a single soul left in this world who would know my name or know me as the person I was.

I guess that would eventually happen to everything and everybody who has ever existed. There is no reason I should be any different or meet a different fate.  I don't desire immortality, neither through my work or from the longevity of life. It's just the thought of having been born as a human being and yet having lived the life of an animal is what gives me that sinking feeling of failure.

My thoughts are more random; more abstract than ever when I dwell more on this topic for I still do not quite understand the purpose of my life or human life in general. Maybe the coming few posts on this forum shall see me pour more on this topic.

However as I conclude this  post, I am reminded of the following few lines from the movie 'Robinson Crusoe'

“Dying is not a problem. All men die. The only thing which is important is how you die. Let’s die warriors !”