(no subject)
Just had minor almost-panic-attack about being buried alive. Would I have any way of killing myself so as to prevent slow suffocation? No, because they'd probably take away my pocket-knife and not leave anything in its place. This lovely, irrational fear brought to you by William Makepeace Thackeray, who in no way writes about being buried alive, but his brief discussion of death somehow sparked these thoughts. Thank you, dearest William.
"Which of the dead are most tenderly and passionately deplored? Those who love the survivors the least, I believe. The death of a child occasions a passion of grief and frantic tears, such as you end, brother reader, will never inspire. The death of an infant which scarce knew you, which a week's absence from you would have caused to forget you, will strike you down more than the loss of your closest friend, or your first-born son--a man grown like yourself, with children of his own."
Why? Ah, Vanity Fair!
"Which of the dead are most tenderly and passionately deplored? Those who love the survivors the least, I believe. The death of a child occasions a passion of grief and frantic tears, such as you end, brother reader, will never inspire. The death of an infant which scarce knew you, which a week's absence from you would have caused to forget you, will strike you down more than the loss of your closest friend, or your first-born son--a man grown like yourself, with children of his own."
Why? Ah, Vanity Fair!