I know death is not a topic anyone likes to think about, especially on a Sunday morning. But I’m chancing it, given that the nation was, over the last weekend, in mourning.

It is funny how, when you think about it, people die every day and yet we are always shocked by death. We live in an era where we pretend death doesn’t really happen.

We don’t deal well with it. Sure, we like it well enough as entertainment, gorging on violent television, in films and Xbox deaths. And we’re absolutely fine if it’s played by Brad Pitt in his film Meet Joe Black. But take it off screen and into real life and we can’t bear to watch. Bizarrely, we live thinking death won’t happen to us, that life goes on forever.

This is quite a modern luxury, really. Up to less than a century ago, death used to be the highlight of the day. People were born and died at home. But now, look at us, we are completely unprepared.

I have, for the past two years, in trying to come to terms with the death of my father, been questioning life and death. In my hunger for answers I have devoured any wisdom that came my way, from Socrates to – odd as this may sound – Disney’s The Lion King.

One of the reasons for our unreadiness could be that we are so detached from the cycle of life. Death is a natural part of a life cycle (cue Simba and Mufasa the lions). But we, in our town houses and block apartments, are quite detached from that aren’t we?

Fay Weldon, the feisty 80-year-old British author, said that moving to the country after a lifetime in London has made her matter-of-fact about death: “In the country you’re in touch with the seasons, aware that you, too, wither and perish like the leaves on trees.”

Unfortunately, we are increasingly living life removed from nature: we prefer to take to virtual worlds or plastic jungles smelling of disinfectant than running about barefoot on some beach.

So it’s only legitimate that we do not think much about nature and, consequently, death. I used to live life as if I had all of the time in the world. Jeez, the time I wasted worrying about absurdities! Waistline, clothes, hair, career – are they worth the effort or energy? There are other, simpler, but more important things to enjoy.

And maybe we could focus a little bit less on the ‘sufferings’ of life. As Catholics, it is drummed into us from Holy Communion age, that we must suffer in this world in order to find happiness in the next.

We are constantly exposed to the image of Christ nailed to the cross but we forget that, really, his passion lasted three days.

The rest of the time he spent travelling, meeting people, eating, drinking and being absorbed in good conversation. Why don’t we focus on that?

That is not to say we aren’t all hit, at some point, by horrible tragedy. But instead of dwelling on the suffering perhaps we should take it as a cue to dedicate our lives to doing what is best for our soul.

Socrates, that ancient Greek big-wig philosopher, believed it is possible to taste the good in this life if you pursue the right way of life.

He was not too sure about afterlife – who is? – but said that if he lived on after death, that would bring him “inconceivable happiness”, and in the meantime by deepening his self-knowledge, he lived life to the full.

Today is as good a time as any to leave this world, an ancient Indian saying goes. Perhaps if we think a little more about death, we would not keep postponing that lunch with a friend. We would be a little crazier. We would actually live the moment.

In fact, this brings me back to the death of President Emeritus Guido de Marco. It is touching to see, from the tributes, how he marked the lives of many in his lifetime. The reason is a simple one, really: he lived the moment.

When Prof. de Marco spoke to you, you felt special. Not in an I’m-in-awe kind of way, but because he tapped into that basic human need of communicating properly. You felt he really was speaking to you and listening to what you had to say, and that the background happenings were suspended, in favour of the ‘now’.

How many such pleasant conversations do we come across in our rushed life nowadays?

We could all do well to take a leaf out of Prof. de Marco’s approach to life and live the moment. Till death do us part.

krischetcuti@gmail.com