letters to no one

Dear life and death,

How unusual it is to write a letter to life and death, as though they were real people, as though they could actually read it. I know it seems stupid. I know trust me. 

I don't believe that there is a God out there watching down on us from heaven, I don't even believe the Devil is down below in hell (I would like to point out that if you do believe in any God I completely respect that and this is simply my beliefs). But I do believe in life and death, it's as simple as that. When I first formed my own ideas of my beliefs, something I have been thinking of since, about the age of 9, I automatically thought of life and death as a chess game. I didn't believe God moved the pieces against the Devil or anything like that. The players weren't alive and once the piece was lost they had either been claimed by the Devil or God. I thought that Life sat with the black pieces and Death with the white, a peculiar combination I know, but that shall be explained later. 

I envisioned Death as an old man, who had seen all the horrors that our world has seen, who has lived through wars and catastrophes. And life, well, life was a young girl, someone with hope. Hope for a better future. Death, however, was still small-minded and not as intelligent as one might hope. Life was open-minded, a genius, someone who thought of revolutionary ideas and formed our futures. And although when you saw analogy (is that the right word?) you probably thought that the old man was teaching the girl to play, well if you did, that's not quite it, the girl is teaching the old man how to play, she is teaching him to broaden his perspective and to not be quite as harsh or deadly, to instead think three steps ahead, just as life does, and although death claims a few pieces each time, life always wins. Hence why the world is yet to end (she says in the middle of a world-altering pandemic).

Now as to why life is the black pieces and death is the white pieces. Death is a pure thing, a truth no one wants to face. Death is a fact that can't be altered, something that will never change, no compromises or coincidences, simply the truth. White is a symbol of purity, the very thing I believe Death to be, it is pure and untainted (By this I would like to point out that it isn't how they die that is pure but it is the fact that everyone will die at some point). Life, however, can be manipulated, it is a lie that all too many people accept whole-heartedly. Life can change at the flick of a switch, one minute everything is unicorns and rainbows and the next it's your worst nightmare. Life is a maze that no one has quite figured out how to navigate quite yet. 

So life and death are surprisingly still the ones I am writing this letter to. To life I shall say this, don't lose the bloody game of chess, at least not this year. To death I say, don't win the bloody game of chess,

Grace  XoXo