Philosophy from observing a moto accident

Someone got hurt today. A lexus turned, and three girls on a moto fell straight sideways. None were wearing helmets. Two scrambled up. One wasn't moving, clearly unconscious. No blood, but the bowels went, and the thing was -- she was just not there. Maybe she was dead, or maybe just knocked out. It was surreal, the friends shaking her, trying to get her up -- no doubt making any injury more severe. The driver wanted to leave, of course. For a culture that hates conflict and avoids blame at all costs, it goes against everything. It doesn't make it right, of course, but it's clear where it comes from.

I always thought watching something like that would be painful, violent. I guess if she was bleeding it would have been different, or if I knew her. But the thing is, it was clear that it was the ones around her that were suffering. But her, she was just gone.

She was young. Her life was too short. But that was a fight for the living, for the present. They are the ones for whom it is violent and unfair. Of course dying is awful for some people, but just then I thought, it's simple. Death is once. When you go, you're gone. Whoever she was, whatever she wanted to do, however much her family and friends loved her, she had gone, and she was at peace. It was the world around her that screamed, but she was simply not there. She had moved on. Maybe she came back, I don't know. I don't believe that her soul "went" somewhere, but either way it was gone, faded, what had mader her "her" was not there.

I fear death. For those I love, for the emptiness, and for myself, not having enough time and for the pain it would cause those I love. But seeing this was strangely calming. Yes, it reminds me to always wear a helmet, and be careful, and that it could all be gone in a single flash, and yes, it's scary. But it also tells me that death is simple, like opening a door. It is only violent in the aftermath, and no, she probably didn't deserve to die, or be injured. If she did, she did. Deserved, forced, at fault or not, whatever it was that she was, was gone. And I had the overwhelming impression that she was, in that instant, perfectly all right.

Death is not something to be sought, and under no circumstances caused (I'm quite firmly in the 'never justifiable' camp), or excused. But I did think that maybe it's not something to be feared.