Curiosity, Fascination, and Death

Although I have my own house, I house sit a lot, make that, cat sit. If you saw the house, you would know why, indoor swimming pool, air conditioner, large deck with a view of the Narrows Bridges. And this is what brings me to my reason for blogging today. The bridges.


A knock came at the door the other day. It was a reporter. He asked if he could use my side yard for some footage. He said there was a jumper on the bridge. I gave him permission. What did I do next? I immediately went and got the binoculars and looked out the window.


I said to myself, Megan, why are you watching? Do you really want to see what happens to a body when it jumps off the bridge and hits the water below? I put the binocs down and decided I was morbid. You would have done it too, though, admit it. The question is why. Why do we do it? Why do we slow down when we see a car accident? What is it we want to see?


Personally, I would never want to see someone die so horrifically. It would haunt me forever. I have watched people die from illness and that is bad enough. I've also seen dead people. A lot of them. I was brought up Catholic. To this day I never understand the open casket ritual. So I ask again, why?


Have you heard of the Faces of Death movies? I remember when I was in high school, friends sitting around watching them. Videos of people actually dying. I never watched them, but always wondered why my friends were so into them.



I think it's just in our nature. We can't help ourselves. Curiosity. Our need to know. But is that it? Perhaps it's something embedded within us. Maybe we are fascinated with things that our beyond our control. Or maybe it's a strange escape. It's happening to someone else, we're detached from it, it's not real to us. Real life fiction? Kind of like watching a reality show.


I honestly don't know the answer. These are just ponderings of the mind. What do you think?