Uni High Gargoyle Staff Blog

The other day, in a discussion about immortality, an interesting story was brought up by a friend of mine about a seemingly immortal duck.

It has been reported that a hunter shot a duck and, thinking that he had killed it, put it in his fridge at home. Apparently, two days later when his wife opened the fridge the duck was no longer dead, and it managed to lift its head. The duck was then rushed to the local animal hospital and then to an animal sanctuary for more specialized treatment. During surgery to repair the gunshot wounds in its wing and leg, the duck once again flat-lined, only to spring back to life a second time.

While many might sit and think that having the ability to live for eternity and escape death would be the greatest gift of all time, I disagree.

The will to live is undeniably a strong one, as illustrated by this duck who was accordingly named Perky, but I can’t help but feel that immortality is not only overrated but actually is a fate worse than death.

To live forever — and assuming that you could still maintain your health — would in my mind be comparable to going weeks without sleep. The endlessness of life, and with it the knowledge that as time goes on the human race is only declining in so many ways, seems like a haunting and horrible existence.

To die after living a full life would be a splendid feat and certainly one not worth cheating yourself out of by discovering immortality. So let’s collectively as a society agree not to.

As the wise headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding once said, “After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

— Shivani Khanna