Common Death

I am reading Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko which is a novel that takes place at a moment with Native people in what is now North America are interacting with the white colonizers that are seeking to "civilize" and generally change the ways of life that people have been practicing and living for so long. One of the most profound things that has effected me about this book is the relationships that the characters have with death. In one section of the book Grandma Fleet teaches her two young grandchildren that when planting a garden it is much more reliable to assume that the plants will reproduce themselves then it is to assume that a human with all of the realities of the day will be there to replant the seed that next year. This struck me as I am aware that my life and my assumption of life for those around me is so unique to my time and space in this world. For so many the assumption of life is non existent. The diseases I had or was vaccinated from as a kid are what are killing people in so many places. In this novel Silko never belittles death. Having it be more common places does not mean its any less painful. I want to remember this when I think about myself in relationship with people in my life that I love and with the world.