What is this thing called “life”? This is yet another self-imposed venture which forced me to once again consult my book of many words. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “life” is “the ability to, breathe, grow, reproduce, etc. (respond to stimuli, adaptation, use energy), which people, animals and plants have before they die and which objects do not have.” I ask the question, would you be satisfied with such a “definition”? I most certainly wouldn’t. Must an individual meet all of the above-mentioned characteristics and or traits, in order for him or her to be deemed alive? I know for a fact that there are some men and women who are genetically unable to reproduce but yet roam the earth. In my opinion, the above cannot be justified as a definition, but rather, characteristics and or traits of “life”. Therefore, can “life” first be defined (if at all possible), and then characterized? For, how do you define something based on its functions alone? At this juncture, it must be stated that, there is a difference between the words “definition” and “characteristic”. Based on the above, would it be correct to imply that as human-beings, we are valuing something meaningless? Often one hears statements such as, “It’s my life”, “Life is good”, “How’s life?” etc. yet we are oblivious to the meaning of this thing that we value ever so much and often casually speak of. Perhaps we should do away with the word “life” and instead adopt the word “trait” in all instances where the term “life” is applied. We should for example start making statements such as, “It’s my trait”, “Trait is good”, “How’s trait”? I will be the first one to agree that it does come off rather odd at first but I believe that given sufficient time, we may just adapt. Fair enough, one might argue, that a “thing” does not necessarily have to be defined, in order for it to be valuable. Then again, says who? I therefore dare conclude this subject by stating that, there is no such a thing as life, but rather characteristics and or traits, that enable us, animals and plants alike, to interact with one another within an environment, before permanently losing such characteristics and or traits to death. I’m just saying!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 08:03:31 +0000