Addendum to Otzi the Iceman

Otzi, portrayed in a painting as he lay dying atop a mountain

 

Otzi, the Iceman, up close & personal

 

The last object or person seen as eyes close forever on this Earth; the last word spoken or heard; the last beat of the heart; the final gasp or breath .... some of these things are recorded for official records and some noted for the memory of family and friends. Everyone will experience death at some point during their life. Some will have time to prepare for their death; some will never know that it happened: The proverbial here one second, gone the next.

 

I have a habit of trying to closely examine some photographs and paintings. There are times I see things which I cannot be certain were intentionally placed there or not by the creator of the photograph or of the painting. With life draining from his body in the painting of Otzi the Iceman, for instance, he seems to be gazing at something or someone. Who? What? His demise is coming high in the mountainous Alps in the midst of snow and ice. It is cold. His breath seems to be hovering visible just beyond his mouth. Does he realize it is there? Does he even know that he is dying? Did the artist present the conception of the last moments of Otzi in this manner intentionally or did it just happen?

 

All I know is that things such as these make me curious and they are questions to which I never will know the answers. On a cosmic scale these things would seem to have no relevance; on a personal scale, I like to think the answers would hold some of the explanation of the reason for us being here.

 

Some years ago, I wrote a short story about the Earth being a "test tube" in an ever-expanding laboratory called the universe. In the story, a somewhat crazed scientist "learned" a way to shatter the test tube. The story ended with him struggling to decide if he should or should not shatter it. I suppose somehow, somewhere, he still is thinking about it ....