Why all the fuss about the reasons why people die? We are all going to die sooner or later. The why or when is really irrelevant. In reality, taking the disturbingly rapid increase in world population, sooner is probably better than later.

David

David,

You - and all of the rest of us - each have only one life. One incredibly brief sparkle of infinity. Your life is incredibly precious, and not just to you. What you do with it is precious. What you pack into it is precious. It's all there is. It will be all you get, like for each of us.

What can you achieve, what can each of us achieve, for the happiness and well-being of all of us ? You are a precious human being, you are respected, you are loved, and when you go one day, you will be grieved over. Don't discount such a wonderful opportunity to contribute to our common well-being.

Best wishes,

Joe

Dear David,

I like your response and tend to agree, accept with <<We are all going to die sooner or later>>. Our body is going to die of course, but not us.

Dear Joe,

I think you missed David's main point, which is that worrying is not helpful: being obsessed about living and dying prevents us from smelling the roses on the way.

<<You - and all of the rest of us - each have only one life.>>

And how do you arrive at that conclusion?

<<Your life is incredibly precious, and not just to you>>

What a tragedy. Precious things rarely see the light of day lest they be broken or stolen, even scratched. In Australia, the nanny-state is so obsessed with avoiding biological death that it restricts life being lived to the full, instead trying to force us to stay under its apron.

<<Don't discount such a wonderful opportunity to contribute to our common well-being>>

I think that David is already contributing so much for our common well-being - he even offers to give his place in order to make enough room for others.

<<You are a precious human being, you are respected, you are loved, and when you go one day, you will be grieved over.>>

I am not that human being which I happen to wear temporarily.
Those who consider me a human being do not respect or love me - they respect and love that human being.

I wish not to be grieved over,
I take no joy in causing others grief.

My previous post was was a rather tongue in cheek effort at pointing out the problem of world over population.

I have to agree with Joe that we have only one life to live and that is then the end of the matter. Those who think we have a soul which is going on for ever are doomed to disappointment, except for the fact that they won't have any conscious feelings of disappointment (or anything else) once they are gone.

I might also pose the question to people like Yuyutsu, "What are you going to be doing as you while away your endless time in Heaven." I don't want to hear that in Heaven, there is no concept of time.

Sorry for getting off the subject. This response probably belongs on one of yesterday's other topics.

David

Dear David,

You ask me:

<<What are you going to be doing as you while away your endless time in Heaven.>>

I can only answer in your own words: Why all the fuss about Heaven - I can only hope that I'll never have to go there and I wish the same for you and for Joe.

Thank you, Yuyutsu, for your kind wishes, but we all have to come to an end sooner or later, and say good-bye to our loved ones - no more laughs together, no more exciting times, or ordinary, everyday times, nothing - it depends what you do with that finite thing called life in the meantime.

I'm old enough to reflect that most of my friends and colleagues, certainly most of the people that I have known and loved, are already gone. I will never see them again, or joke with them, or get angry with them, nothing. Never. 'Never' is a horrible word, don't you think ?

I don't mean that you have to do something so that people will remember you. No, simply that we each should try to leave the world a better place than we found it, in spite of any adversities or difficulties. Each human being in the world has so much potential, each of us can do so much good for our fellow human beings, that the more people there are, the better off we all could be. COULD be.

But if you want to be no more than a lump of meat, on its way to the worms - if life is just one long, boring waiting-room - then that's up to you too :)

Cheers and best wishes,

Joe