Dead People Who Are Not Dead

I do think that people are not dead until no one thinks about or remembers them. I still think about my brother even though he died, not quite, two months after his birth (and I was, not quite, two years old). My sister named her son after our brother, so he lives on.

Even though I was only two years old, I remember the day. My mother was devastated and could barely speak. I just remember sitting in my little chair and wondering what was going on. I was not allowed to attend the funeral (neither was my sister). My parents thought that it would be too traumatic.

Consider Bach, Handel, Strauss, Mendelssohn, Poe, Hardy, and a myriad of other composers, writers, painters, or any other artist whose works live on and on. They are not dead. Physically they are, but in terms of their works I will say gone, but not forgotten. In that respect, they are not dead.

There is a difference between physical death and mental death. One can succumb to a physical death; however, one cannot succumb to a death of creation.