Reflections on the Vampire by @mayatylerauthor #guestpost
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We have a fear of dying, of being forgotten. And vampires “live” forever. The immortality vampires represent is attractive, aside from the whole blood-drinking thing, they don’t get sick, they don’t age, they don’t die. The latest innovations all focus on finding the elusive fountain of youth and combating the signs of aging—thinning hair, hair loss, grey hair, wrinkles, age spots, sagging, cellulite—are you feeling depressed yet? Truly, dis-ease is the dis-ease within us, our discontent and dread of aging and dying.
We spend so much time in the futile attempt to defer aging and avoid death, we have forgotten to actually live. Death is inevitable, but how we live our lives is a choice. I choose to spend each day as if it were my last. I choose to take care of myself. I choose to treat others how I wish to be treated. Life is far from perfect. Humans, myself included, are infinitely flawed. Consequentially, life is also flawed. I still prefer an imperfect life over a perfect death.
Immortality is not an infallible recipe for happiness. I see it as a never-ending existence of isolation and loneliness. The endless years becoming meaningless, with time in unlimited supply. Humans strive to seek meaning in their lives. We all want a life worth living. Worth dying for.
In A Vampire’s Tale, my vampire hero Corgan Halton seeks redemption for his past wrongs, using his story as an eventual substitute for his perpetuity. He desires the finality of death, but wants to make his life, as it is, worthwhile first. Even though the possibility of infinite years stretches before him, he chooses a finite existence.
What would you choose?
