--Bertolt Brecht

          Most of us probably have an unhealthy fear of death.  We see it as a terrible event to be avoided at all costs. Even the words, "Death is just as much a natural part of life as being born," which we hear so often at funerals, fail to give most of us much comfort.  For many of us, death is the enemy. 

          But all of us must die sooner or later.  We may be able to delay our death, but none of us can prevent it.  Perhaps we should put more emphasis on living life to the fullest than on the fear of dying.  More than 200 years ago, Thomas Fuller, M.D. wrote, "A good life fears not life nor death." Yet some of us seem to fear both life and death throughout our entire lives.  We are always fearful of what the future may bring, and we are especially fearful of that terrible day when we shall die.  These fears interfere so much with living a good and full life.  

          Such fears are contagious and are often passed on to the younger generation.  In the words of Erik H. Erikson, "Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death."  If we love life, it is only natural that we want to live as long as possible.  Certainly we want to do everything in our power to maintain good health and have as many years of quality life as possible.  But worrying about death diminishes the quality of life.

          If there is anything we can do to minimize our fear of death, it is to live a good and productive life.  When we finally are forced to face imminent death we want to be able to say to ourselves, "We have lived life to the fullest, we have laughed and loved, and we have enjoyed life's many pleasures." And, perhaps most important of all, we want to be able to say, "We have made whatever contributions to our fellow human beings that we were capable of making." We don't need to have great accomplishments to look back on. All we need is to feel that we have played a positive role in life and not a negative one.  We want to be able to believe that the world is at least no worse off for our having lived, and it would be nice to believe the world is a better place because we were here. 

          If we live our lives in such a way that we can feel good about what we have done with the years that were given to us, perhaps we will have less reason to fear death.

Copyright 2014 Allen Smith

TB-72—Posted  06/07/2014