Have you ever seen a sign that asked the question, “Why Die?” For nearly four decades, South Dakota has been placing these signs near the sites of roadside fatalities. I passed one of these signs on the very day of our son’s funeral near the border between South Dakota and Minnesota. My first thought was, “That’s not the sign I want to see right now.” But my second thought was, “Do any of us really have a choice?”
Why die? The question leaves the impression that death is an option. As though it’s something we can avoid. I always thought death was pretty inevitable. I suppose my problem is not with the sign but with our abbreviated language. The sign is really asking, “Why die now simply because you are not paying attention to the things that are most important?” But that would not fit on the sign. And reading that much text while driving might actually cause an accident.
The sign is designed to make us think. We are forced to realize that someone died at the very same place where we are at that moment, probably doing the same thing we are doing. So we take time to consider our own mortality. We ask ourselves, “Could this happen to me?”
I think the sign should actually read, “Why Not Take Your Life More Seriously?” Better yet, “Why Not Live Your Life On Purpose?”
We don’t know how many days we have left to live the life we have been given. My father-in-law will soon celebrate his 96th birthday. Yet my son left us after just turning 19. We can’t make sense of why some of us have fewer days than others. But every one of us can look to each new day as though it might be our last. I doubt that any of us has been guaranteed today, much less tomorrow.
Psalm 90:12 reminds us to take advantage of each day we’ve been given. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.“
A heart of wisdom is the reward for taking advantage of each day to the fullest. Elijah’s last notes included this word of encouragement: “Follow your dreams and passions and don’t sit around living someone else’s life” (Elijah 2014).
Now when I see those signs in South Dakota, I will think of Elijah and imagine that the sign says, “Why Not Live?”
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-Ken Buchanan
