I think humans have an unavoidable obsession with death. That may seem obvious to some people, but I'm not sure it is to everybody. Most people want to keep that in the closet. It doesn't matter, though, because the shortness of our life and the fact that we are surrounded by the dead and dying always brings itself to our attention in one way or another.
Blaise Pascal wrote:
The last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at the last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end for ever.
That seems like a big downer, doesn't it? But that really doesn't matter, because it is the truth. In this country where youth is glorified, not only for its health and beauty but also, ridiculously, for its knowledge, we would do well to remember that there is wisdom in the contemplation of the end of this life because when it comes won't we want to have figured out what we think of it and whether or not we wasted our lives and opportunities when we had them.
