The French actor Alain Delon died in mid-August. Amid the obituaries and articles about his adult children鈥檚 feuds over their inheritance was a particularly odd item 鈥� Delon had wanted his dog, a 10-year-old Belgian malinois named Loubo, to die with him.
Delon鈥檚 children chose to go against their father鈥檚 wishes. Loubo will not, as Delon had wanted, be put down and then laid in his casket to be buried with him.
I think most of us agree this is for the best.
Delon apparently believed that Loubo would have died of grief in his absence. I don鈥檛 doubt that the dog, who was with Delon for the last decade of his life, will miss his owner. All of us who have had loved a pet can testify that they miss their favourite humans when they鈥檙e not around.
But as long as there鈥檚 been people, there have been cases of those about to die, who decide to take another living thing with them. Cases of pets are actually fairly common, and human lives used to be up for grabs, too.
The ancient Egyptian pharaohs were sometimes buried with slaves to serve them in the afterlife, and Viking chieftains have been found buried with their beheaded thralls.
On a smaller scale, many people demand even now to be buried with beloved physical goods. Sometimes those are intensely personal 鈥� a letter from a loved one, a copy of a favourite book, a wedding ring 鈥� but others take it almost to Viking funeral levels.
The number of people buried in their cars is higher than you might think. Apparently the cost of buying multiple graves doesn鈥檛 dissuade everyone.
When it鈥檚 family deciding that their grandpa ought to be buried with his beloved guitar or fishing pole, that鈥檚 one thing. That鈥檚 an expression of love and mourning.
When it鈥檚 the soon-to-be-deceased deciding that no one else in the family deserves to inherit their car or expensive watch or jewelry, or when they literally ask to be buried with a good chunk of their cash, well, that鈥檚 another.
It鈥檚 natural, to some degree, to see ourselves at the centre of the universe.
So when we contemplate our own deaths, some people see the end of the world. Why consider those left behind? They hardly count, once our light has gone out, right?
Delon couldn鈥檛 see a future for his pet beyond misery. And as someone who believes that animals can love people, I believe that Loubo is sad and confused, and misses his beloved owner.
But the world doesn鈥檛 end when one person dies.
It never really ends. There鈥檚 always more world, more time, more things to come.
Life is the best chance to pass on what we have, in the form of knowledge or kindness or charity.
Death is the other.
Most people understand this instinctively. They make wills or buy life insurance. They make arrangements for pets, even for houseplants. They sign up to be organ donors, thinking it鈥檚 important to help even people they鈥檝e never met. Because they know the world doesn鈥檛 end with them.
