Chapter 12 7.thoughts of life and death

There is a whalers' church in New Bedford, and whalers who are about to set sail come to this church on Sunday, and I am no exception. Snow and rain came, I wrapped my bearskin coat and walked into the church in the rain and snow. There were sailors, sailors' wives, and sailors' widows in the church. It was raining and snowing outside, but there was a suffocating silence inside.People who are about to leave are immersed in a kind of silent sorrow, each has his own thoughts, but these thoughts are shrouded in the same kind of desolation. The pastor had not yet arrived, and the pulpit where he stood was empty.The stone tablets mounted on the wall on both sides of the pulpit silently proclaimed:

Monument to John Talbot John Talbot, on November 1, 1836, fell into the sea in Patagonia on the shore of Lonely Island, at the age of eighteen. My sister erected this monument as a memorial Robert Long, Willis Edley Nathan Herman, Walter Canney Shane Meia, Monument to Samuel Clarke The above-mentioned six people were all crew members of the "Eliza", which was swept into the sea by a giant whale in the Pacific Ocean on December 30, 1839. The survivors of the ship set up this monument in memory of Monument to Captain Ezekiel Hardy Killed by a sperm whale in the Sea of ​​Japan on August 3, 1832.

The survivor erected this monument as a memorial I brushed the icicles off my head, shook the rain and snow off my coat, and sat in a seat by the door.When I turned around, Queequeg was sitting beside me! The solemn and solemn atmosphere here obviously affected him. There was a look of hesitation on his face, and his curiosity was aroused. Of all the people in the church, only one Queequeg noticed my coming, because he was the only one who could not read, and did not read the words on the tablet like the others. I'm not sure if the people on the stele have any kinship with the people in the church, but what happened to the people on the stele is inevitable for the whalers. As long as you go out to sea, you will be in danger at any time .Therefore, those people in the church who are obviously directly or indirectly related to whaling are all sad when faced with such words.

The sadness accumulated in the heart turned into a heavy silence, making everyone who faced the inscription without ashes fall into endless sorrow! Ah, words that gnaw people's hearts, you are so cold and ruthless, unmoved by everything in the world! Death, oh, why do we add such a meaningful but heartless word to the name of the man who left yesterday for the underworld?If he had gone to the far East Indies, there would be no need to add this word; if he died, the widow would receive death insurance; and Adam, who died six thousand years ago, is still active in people's lives. In words; in addition, people are always worried about the person who lives in the world that is considered to be the ultimate bliss; everyone hopes that the dead will be silent forever, if there is a sudden noise in that barren graveyard, it will attract people all over the world. Move out, stunned.

All this, all this surrounding death is not for nothing. There are not only wolves around the grave, but also longing; the doubt and fear of death is one of the sources of hope for human beings. On such a windy and rainy morning with snowflakes fluttering, the sky is so dark; I read the fate of these whalers who went before me in a haze, and I can imagine my mood. Yes, Ishmael, your fate may be exactly the same as theirs! However, I quickly jumped out of this pathos: Although this is an industry that hangs its head on the point of the javelin, it is also the industry that brings people the opportunity to make a fortune in a short period of time.

The thoughts of life and death may be misunderstood by you and me. I, who is called my shadow in this world, is my body, and my body is just a stinky skin of my body. If anyone wants my body, well, take it away. It doesn't matter if it's there or not! Don't look at the sun like an oyster in the water, and mistakenly think that the muddy water is thin air. The true and false orbits of the soul and body need your rational and constant attention. Well, three cheers to Nantucket, a new life is at hand.