Time and spoilage

The other day, I wrote about bagging food in airtight bags to prolong its useful "life".  I suppose a piece of lettuce is dying or dead from the moment it is harvested.  When I use lettuce, I look carefully at the edges of the leaves to see if there is discoloration.  If there is, it is usually black and I tear it off.

It occured to me that I myself am subject to a type of spoilage.  Once I am dead, I expect my body will deteriorate.  

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+quickly+does+a+dead+body+spoil&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab

I purposely used the word "spoil" since 1) I will definitely be spoiled, you know, for beauty contests and such, and 2) I wanted to try to keep the same ideas for my body as I use for lettuce, yogurt and other foods. I guess my concept of spoiling is approximately the same thing as deterioration by microbes and bacteria.  I have been listening to "The Well-Dressed Ape" by Hannah Holmes, a comparison of facts about human life and history with the life and history of other animals.  That book and others have emphasized that increased human longevity owes much to our better understanding of microscopic life and how to avoiding difficulties from it.  I note that the deterioration of the body is referred to as "putrefaction" in many fields. I don't like the idea of my body qualifying for that term but I guess it will at some point.


The other day, I added a picture of gladiolus flowers to my Facebook page.

There seems to be some sort of call to appreciate life from beautiful flowers, especially after seeing them begin to putrify:

(of a body or other organic matter) decay or rot and produce a fetid smell.

synonyms:decay, rot, decompose, go bad, go off, spoil, fester, perish, deteriorate;

molder

"the carcasses will putrefy quickly in this heat"

I don't think I could avoid spoiling, decay, rotting, decomposition and moldering by sealing myself in an airproof plastic bag.  

I am a brief bloom, a beautiful flower beginning to wilt.