Morse, Life and Death

I watched Inspector Morse with Levor a few weeks ago. This is nothing new. We are slowly working our way through the series and thoroughly enjoying them. It's something about a character driven drama and good casting and scripts. And theme music which takes one's breath away.

As we come to the end of the series (we have two to go), Morse is actually having to be half-decent to Lewis in order for Lewis to stick with him, which is creating an interesting dynamic in itself, and leads to many moments when Morse realises that he's somehow caused offense. His reaction is of pained surprise, which is so entertaining.

During the last episode we watched Morse has to let Lewis have one of these moments (where Lewis is right and Morse isn't), because his behaviour has been fairly unpleasant and he's come to realise it. The moment is interesting. A woman has died, shot by Morse as she was in the act of attempting to murder Lewis. She has had a truly awful life and is quite confused. Her life from that point would be lived in psychiatric facilities or prison, because she has murdered a number of people in cold blood. Lewis comments: "She's at peace now." Morse screws up his face to protest and thinks better of it, so Lewis gets the last word.

But it struck me that Morse was here representing an almost vanished view of life. That is, that the life this woman had, for all its sadness and difficulty and with all its potential thwarted is still better than no life.

It is better to be alive than dead. I don't think this is believed anymore by my generation or the next. Quality of life, self-awareness and so forth have replaced life. Just being alive is a good thing. And of course, Christians believe that this good thing is a gift from God, and that it should not be taken for granted. It's much easier to believe that death is easier and better, lulled by the distant music of the Romantic movement:
'....I did think it rich to die
to cease upon the midnight with no pain...'
and many similiar ideas fit with our view of death. Death is a good thing; a sweet release.

But death isn't. Death is the time of no more chances, of separation that can't be fixed, of no more words or whispers, of no more connection with others. Death rips away from us our heart's desire and takes from us those we struggle to relate with in the middle of the struggle, leaving us always with a sense of irresolution and unfinished business. It is the nature of death to damage us this way.

There are grey areas, certainly where pain and brain function make it hard to work out even when death is present. But this is on the edge of the debate after we've worked out what we think about life and death in themselves. These determine how we can proceed in other areas. So, this is my opinion on the central issue. Life is good. Even if your experience of it is less than ideal (and it is likely to be in this world). Life is a gift. No-one should take it away from you. No-one should threaten it's continuance. No-one should say that it is worth less than their life.

On this one, I'm with Morse.