Guardian writer Ian Sample asked Hawking if he feared death in a story published yesterday. This was his response:
I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Forgive me Dr. Hawking if I don't agree with you. Today I have to pick up my boys from school and inform them that their great-grandfather has passed away. This will be the first time my children have encountered death on an extremely personal level. I know that my kids will be okay, they have known this was coming for a long time. Arthur Armand was 95. I was blessed to meet him in 1990 he was elderly but was still hale and hearty. I'm grateful to my husband for sharing his grandparents with me since I grew up with none. My kids know what Dr. Hawking doesn't, there is a God. How can someone who has seen the wonders of the universe that Dr. Hawking has and not accept that it was divinely created? Well doc, since you say you won't be around too long, you'll find out soon enough.
I loved Arthur "Micker" Armand like my own, I neglected him like I would my own grandparent. I have been a terrible granddaughter to the people I have been privileged enough to call grandparents. When I was growing up, my father had an older sister, Alice, she lived in Scranton, PA she encouraged me to call her grandma. I used to write her faithfully from the time I was 6 until I discovered Shaun Cassidy at age 10. She passed away soon after I sent her a letter at age 12, as elderly as she was she responded to me quickly forgiving my 2 years of neglect. I still have that final letter from her. Have you noticed how easy it is to ignore that generation? Some of us are lucky to have grandparents that were born during the baby boom and these grandparents are more technologically savvy. But what about the generation before? How arrogant can we be by not keeping in touch with them because they got off the technology train before the home computer? Are our fingers broken that we can't write a note or pick up a phone? My husband comments that I hold on to people, when my friend Helle moved to another state we continued to talk on the phone and email as if we still lived in the same neighborhood. But how easy would it have been without current technology? If this was still the day of the corded house phone? I admit I have composed hundreds of letters in my head, even put some to paper but for some reason the act of stamping the envelope and taking it to the post office has always defeated me. I'm grateful that I was born in this technologically advanced age that will allow me to keep in touch with my kids when they move on in their lives. But what of the future, when I step off the technology train, will I be treated to the same neglect I have subjected my elders to? I hope not but you know what they say about karma.
Terri
