What if death was taught in Kindergarten?

What if death was a part of the school curriculum starting in Kindergarten? I'm talking about having to learn about the reality of death relative to the human experience (with the exclusion of religious teachings) in Kindergarten? You would have your ABC’s, 123’s, personal development and lessons on existence; existence meaning that death is inevitable. Is this done? Since I’ve hit 27, I’m beginning to realize that I’m not invincible. My bones ache, I notice lumps in unusual places and my body is beginning to be worn as I have now developed arthritis in my right ankle. I’ve since decided to be good to myself and cut out many vices, which included coffee, alcohol and tobacco.

Waking up on that cold morning in San Francisco on January 30th, 2016, hung-over and officially 27, I said to myself it's another beautiful year to be alive but I'm one step closer to death (if I should die of natural causes). Morbid, but true, I actually began to be proud of myself that I made it this far. That my heart still pumped, that I fed myself accordingly (with the help of my parents for nearly two decades), and that I had managed to hopefully provide little to no damage to my body due to my vices (the verdict may still be out on this). It got me thinking that at any moment all could be lost. All of it could be over. I don't know how much time I have, but I want to enjoy it. I couldn’t even muster the strength to go explore San Francisco that morning because I was too hurt and still somewhat lit from last night. Being in a beautiful city, unable to explore I had a realization and said that's it with alcohol. I wanted to run sharp from here on out.

But what if I had been taught early on about my own existence? How one day, it will all be over? In the lessons between numbers, cursive and the Pythagorean theory, even religion; What if I had a course throughout K-12 on existence that taught me about life and that it is made up of moments, love, and being content with yourself because here you are finite? We’re all doing this thing called life, but why do we shun away from the next chapter, which is death? The first lessons on actual death are in middle school where you learn about drunk driving, substance abuse, STD’s, etc. but never when you're 5.

The first taste of your existence is usually a written exercise that asks, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Imagine if it read, "You're going to die one day and will be gone forever, so what puts a smile on your face?” Would a teacher actually teach this to someone and have the courage to stick this on the wall? Dare I say during Parent-Teacher night? I don’t think this is too deep. But if you think so, I’d rather it be deep than shallow as the first question has the tendency to force a child into an “occupational box” from the start. At least with the second question, it starts the child thinking about his or her own existence from what they actually feel. Now imagine having questions addressed in such a way throughout their youth with the underlying theme being death? Life and how to approach it, may look different.

The question would be tailored to the age of the child, especially as they approached independence, but the child would always walk on this earth knowing that they were deteriorating and that this would all be obsolete given the underlying theme of death. These questions asked in the classroom, where kids spend most of their childhood, would probably produce greater meaning in their lives and cause them to question the meaning of their surroundings. They would be forced to deny this notion of invincibility and instead live for what they want to do with the limited time they have. They may take better care of themselves and show great moderation in experimentation. A contrarian could argue that all of this could backfire, appealing only to hedonistic tendencies but I would argue that constantly being stimulated by pleasure only leads to the numbing of the pleasurable action. You’ll still be searching once the pleasure dissipates only to grow tired of chasing these feelings and begin a quest to find something of greater meaning.

 If kids are taught about their existence at a young age, and are shown that we all meet the same fate, would tolerance increase given this is what actually unites humanity? Would we be happier? Would we fight even more for what we really want out of life? Could the government of a country run effectively? Would people begin to walk and take pride in their own light? I don't know. Maybe I would've ran again for Vice President of my elementary school after losing by seven votes in 4th grade. We’re all finite here and you have nothing to lose ever in life until you've lost your own.

Waking up that day; cold, hung-over, and hungry, I had a realization that in all my 27 years of existence, it was time to start living. Imagine if I would’ve been taught this earlier.