Are you afraid of death?

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[–]NorfolkTerrier 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm not afraid of death. Letting fear of death overwhelm everything we do prevents us from really "living" in the time we have. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, I also think that a good death leads to a form of rest.

But I am afraid of wasting the time I've been given here, and I guess I'm afraid of old age. I'm afraid that my last days might be bad ones, if my mind was going, my health was very poor, if I felt like a burden on my family or if I got stuck in a nursing home. I hope by the time I'm old, society will have found better ways to care for the elderly, both socially and medically.

[–]HugodeCrevellier 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Homer expressed a similar thought through Achilles and the choice before him:

Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold.
Not all Apollo's Pythian treasures hold,
Or Troy once held, in peace and pride of sway,
Can bribe the poor possession of a day!

Lost herds and treasures we by arms regain,
And steeds unrivall'd on the dusty plain:
But from our lips the vital spirit fled,
Returns no more to wake the silent dead.

My fates long since by Thetis were disclosed,
And each alternate, life or fame, proposed;
Here, if I stay, before the Trojan town,
Short is my date, but deathless my renown:
If I return, I quit immortal praise
For years on years, and long–extended days...

Achilles, The Iliad