Death is a Problem to Be Solved
From Common Sense Atheism: "Let's imagine that every human who had ever lived awoke in the morning with a terrible migraine just behind the eyes for one hour. Nobody could do any work during this time. We just had to endure for one hour, and when it dissipated, go about our business, and dread the next day's migraine. There was no cure for the morning migraine, and none in sight. It was, unfortunately, fixed into the very nature of being human. I have no doubt we would soon begin to rationalize these morning migraines. We would tell ourselves that they make the rest of each day more wonderful by contrast, and that we would not properly appreciate the rest of each day were it not for the migraines. Someone might even venture to say that it's the morning migraines which makes the rest of life meaningful. But now imagine that thousands of years pass, and very advanced scientists discover that morning migraines can be cured - with methods inconceivable to previous generations. Post-migraine generations look back on past generations and wonder: 'How could they tolerate those awful morning migraines? What a horrible way to live, every day! Thank goodness we found a cure!' I want to say the same about death. We rationalize death because we don't think it can be avoided. But death is horrible, like cancer. Death thwarts an awful lot of desires. I don't think much about death, and I don't worry much about it, but I'm sure that when I lie on my deathbed I will have lots more I wanted to do with my life, and not being able to do those things will suck. But here's the good news. Death can be solved."