Live on, after death.

Death is percieved by many as an unfortunate, yet unavoidable part of life.
It is grieved momentarily, and then we do our best to go on and live our day to day lives, trying to forget our losses and mask our pain.
Yet in sicily, the dead are observed, admired, and studied as though they still are alive and breathing.
In the vast catacombs of sicily, there are hundreds of corpses, fully clothed and preserved to the best of the people's ability.
Each person has a little bit to tell, through what they are wearing, how they are standing, or even the time period in which they died.
Honestly, how easy is it to find beauty in a dead body? It's gross.
Yet, when you look past the fact that you're literally staring death in the face, there is so much more to learn from the deceased.
It is said that the dead live on in the crypts of sicily.
As opposed to being buried in the ground and turned back into dust, they are carefully preserved and kept so that we can look on to them, and read them as if they are open books.
These bodies represent the inevitability of death.
People live their entire lives, striving for better careers, more money, bigger houses.
is that what they are remembered for?
If any of these mummies had successful lives, it is unlikely that it shows.
Materialistic things don't last nearly as long as the memories you leave behind you, the love that you pass on to future generations, the wisdom that you pass on to your children.
Like these people, we are living to die. Yet when they died, they managed to live on.
What will happen to you when you die?
Will the life that you lived still have a positive impact on those to come?
Or will the memory of you be buried along with your physical being?
Life is short, and death is inevitable, but your legacy has the ability to last for an eternity.

*this was inspired by the National Geographic i found in my bathroom. Thanks mom, for renewing our subscription. =]