afraid to die?

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by jsarno

Well, am I afraid to die, no. Am I ready to die, absolutely not. I have not acheived enough to be considered a successful life. I firmly believe that there is a heaven, therefore I am not afraid of going to a better place.

The ignorance of death is unsettling though. Whatever our endevours, we know where we're going and where we've been (for the most part), in death, we don't have ANY clue. Will I be there with my dogs? Will my friends be there? Will it be a heaven for everyone, or will it be individualized for me? Will I still enjoy the simpler things in life, like watching the Skins beat the Cowboys, or will it be an entirely different life? It is natural to fear what you do not know. I have worked on myself to not fear it, but be more accepting. No matter what, we all have 1 thing in common, we will all die. It's a part of life. I accept this fact...I had 17 friends die in between my junior and senior year in high school. If I had to guess, I'd say I've been to about 40-50 funerals in my life. This helps me to understand death better, and I beleive that life tries to shelter you from death. It's GOING to happen. Sometimes it's not fair...in fact, a lot of times it's not fair. That's why you live life to the fullest when you can. I refuse to be 60 years old and look back and say "I wish I...." This is why I vacation someplace I have NEVER been at least once a year. Last year we went to St. Thomas / Nassau Bahamas / St. Maarten, we went to Cozumel / GeorgeTown Grand Cayman / Jamaica / and Labadee this year, and next year, we're going to Hawaii. I've been to all but 9 states, and I am determined to go to all 50 before I die, and visit as many countries as possible (I've only visited 9 at this point). I don't want to have any regrets. I've tried all sorts of things...stupid or not. I ride motorcycles, I raced ATV's, I've bungee jumped, I have sky dived, I have swam with Dolphins, I have swam and fed sting rays, I have swam with wild giant turtles, I have tamed class 4 rapids, I have climbed mountains, I have skiied where no man should have, I have braved a hurricane (Ok, it was dumb, but I got stuck in hurricane Charley in N. Fort Myers), I have been at baseball's biggest parade (2004 red sox world series championship parade), I have gotten alcohol poisoning (that hurt), I have broken approximately 50 bones in my life, I have driven a vehicle to 175MPH, I have ice skated in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and I have loved with all my heart and with no safety net. I purposely live life with no regrets, and if I die trying something, at least I tried it. Life is too short to live in fear, life is meant to be lived.
Sorry to ramble...point is, we live our lives trying not to get hurt, or in some sort of fear in the hopes that we will live a year longer. Well, I'd rather try everything I could, and live life and miss out on 5 years of life than to live a boring meaningless life. I don't fear death, cause there is nothing to fear. I love this expression "the only thing to fear is fear itself". It's so true.

I share your Outlook on life, I just wasn't going to write it like you did. Good Post.