Life After Dead

We have this idea in the "modern western world" that YOUR life is YOURS. Similarly, YOU are YOU as a result of self-actualization: throughout the course of your life you become yourself. If someone gradually becomes meaner, sloppier or more vulgar , that is because "mean, sloppy and vulgar" is what they truly are ; they moved away from the rules & indoctrination of childhood, towards the freedom of adulthood. However, regardless of whether we refer to this process in a positive or negative sense, we never REALLY think a person moves away from who they really are during their life (excepting addiction or dementia). We don't think "when he was a sweet & shy toddler, that was the REAL Ted Bundy" Still, despite this cultural bias, I can confidently say (and I've been saying it since) that the ME that is ME died in 2016. And whatever the heck has been shambling along since is like a mindless zombie, going through the motions of life and falling apart while doing so.