I agree. I saw a lot of death as a youngster— old relatives, careless peers, traffic accidents — and learned early on no one gets out of this alive. I feared death only in the period between my daughter’s birth and her twenty-first birthday, but once she was on her feet, I again became comfortable with the idea of my own demise.
Death is not terrifying to me. The certainty of death teaches me to enjoy today, this moment, because no one is guaranteed another tomorrow. As I approach 71, I know I stumble closer to the finish line, but it hasn’t changed my conviction that I need not fear the inevitable.
I am convinced there is no god, no glorious afterlife, no meeting up with Auntie Bea, no beloved pets gamboling in a pastoral heaven, waiting until I arrive. I do not fear that void, that complete end to everything I am. I recognize my death will affect people close to me but the world will not change as I leave it. I am satisfied to have had an insignificant but happy life.
