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others a sad matter of the circumstances afforded by free will. In the end,<br />
those who have a pure heart and soul, they may not have a choice on<br />
when they die—but they are almost always offered a choice on how they<br />
leave this life.”<br />
“That’s a fucking lie” I shot back, my blood beginning to boil,<br />
concentrating on my glass in an effort to keep my eyes from watering.<br />
The scotch seemed to have dimmed in color; I could smell the foul<br />
peatiness. I softly snarled “I know plenty of people who would have rather<br />
of gone out a different way.”<br />
“Listen to me.” Michael’s head lifted and turned towards me with<br />
a soft but stern voice. “It is their final seconds, minutes, hours, or however<br />
longer they are given that matters. This precious time, as life is leaving<br />
their body. How do they handle those fleeting moments? Are they in<br />
an agonizing self-indulgent painful shriek of horror or do they turn to<br />
those they love and speak?”<br />
My blood cooled. I turned my watering eyes and looked at<br />
Michael’s eyes that had new warmth in them. Michael focused on me<br />
with an intensity that could only match the hatred I had for death.<br />
He continued.<br />
“How we leave this earth is the only opportunity that can be<br />
afforded as a comfort in death. You can push the timeline. You can push<br />
your final breaths. You can push life itself. Live to the moment you need<br />
to say what it is you need to say. It is here, that the good ones have the<br />
opportunity in an instance that is otherwise outside of their control.”<br />
“So what of God then?” I retorted with inner angst forcing words<br />
on my tongue.<br />
“God has power, but in the end God gave you free will, which<br />
ultimately gave every human the choice of determining whether God<br />
actually exists. God may intercede when it is imperative for some reason<br />
that is known only to him, but the death brought on this life is at the<br />
hands of man, disease, and nature. Natural things happen, those who<br />
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