I've been told that in times of yore, old people in Scandinavian regions--those who felt used up, superfluous, a burden, would remove themselves from the world by stepping out onto an ice floe and float into oblivion.
I don't know what kind of death that would be. Painful, fearful, awful. But some days I think about it.
Easier and considerably less painful than you might think. Get a few drinks into you in evening, launch at night, and simply fall asleep. Done.
ReplyDelete(Happens all the time actually, though usually minus the ice floe and the intent...)
~Graham
A late night, many years ago, at a bus stop in the outskirts of Gothenburgh, Sweden, I found a dead person on the bench in the open outdoor waiting area.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how long it takes to freeze to death. But he looked peaceful, like he was just sitting there waiting for the next bus. It was very dark, no street lights, so it seemed normal enough that the guy ignored my presence. Don't know who is who in the dark. Better keep a low profile. Especially as there were no other people waiting.
In that part of town, at that late hour, it was like 45 minutes between buses, and the temperate was well below freezing. My feet were numb with with cold. The man was not lightly dressed, even had a hat on, so it looked totally natural that he just sat there.
It was only after about 20 minutes of waiting, having obviously just missed the bus before, that I thought it was very strange that he hadn't moved at all. It seems he died without a fight, peacefully. Falling asleep, drifting away.
george tannenbaum, those people came back.
ReplyDelete