Do You Fear Death?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Not a cheery topic, but as you get older the question carries more weight.

I have had many friends and family members who have died - some far too young, others borderline when it comes to age, and others who lived a long life. Some have died from disease, some in accidents and some simply from old age. It is always hard to take, but it brings the reality of the inevitable to the forefront; we all have to go sometime.

As far as I know, I didn’t fear being born (as I was clueless and had no concept of what life was/is), so I don’t feel it is logical I should fear death.

The way I look at it, I was born alone, screaming and crying, so birth probably wasn’t a happy moment for me - but it turned out pretty good in the long run. And although my impulse would be to exit life, screaming and crying again, it stands to reason the next phase might also be a new adventure.

I think I might miss being alive and fear what might happen to those who care about and depend upon me - but I know that life as I know it will go on, with or without me.

Not that I am in any hurry to experience death, but I think the fear of it tends to dissipate as the years pass.

So do I fear death? No.
But in the same breath, I hope I live a long time to mull it over some more.

2

Not at all. It will be a relief for quite a few.

3

I don’t particularly fear death, though that isn’t to say that I never do. I think that I am a healthy individual and don’t think I will die from natural causes until I am an old man. I do on the other hand sometimes worry about the possibility of family or friends dying far more often than myself. I’m sure as I get older I may fear death more, or alternatively if I ever had a heart attack or something it would probably be something I worried about all the time after an even like that took place. It must be a very scary and humbling experience to realize how easily one can die.

4

Yes. Well, sort of… Well, I figure when I’m dead, I won’t exist and there’s not much to fear about that. But I fear dying. The times I’ve almost died, it hurt really bad, and I was really afraid that it was all going to end. I like being alive and I don’t want it to end.

Funny thing is, I was thinking about it this morning. I have to see the doctor tomorrow and get a blood test the day after, and that just makes me think about it more. The fact that I am mortal sometimes seems like such a tragedy. :smiley:

On preview, from pool:

I don’t worry about it all the time, but I do worry some. And yeah, when you’re taking a shower in the morning and suddenly you’re dying and you have to call 911 and hope you make it, life can seem really fragile.

5

Occasionally I will fear death, but not often. More than that I fear dieing. I watched my dad die from emphysema - a long slow and miserable death - and I fear a long lingering death.

Luckily, the way my health has been, I am likely to go long before that. :smiley:

6

Sweet release.

7

I don’t fear death. But that doesn’t mean i would be happy if i died tomorrow. No point in fearing something that i cant control.

8

I don’t fear death, but then again I don’t exactly welcome it, either, and frequently am in a position where I’m actively avoiding it.

But if I felt it was inevitably close, or I was in a situation where I saw no pleasant future for myself, I’d most likely hurry it along.

9

Living in fear of death isn’t much of living. Life’s hard enough without worrying about dying.

10

As long as it’s quick and painless I’m ready to go. It’s not the being dead part I object to, it’s the possibility of a lingering painful dieing experience.

11

I fear what would happen to my two boys. I would hate for them to have a psychological trauma so early in life. None of the fears I have would be about me.

12

I’m not looking forward to it and don’t want to die any time soon but I wouldn’t say I’m particularly scared of it though I used to be terrified.

13

Unless I died quietly in my sleep, the dying part would suck. But once everything starts shutting down inside the brain, all the lights going out and the world fading to black, that’ll be it. Just seems a shame that my consciousness will cease. Every movie comes to an end, both the good and the bad ones.

14

I’m not afraid of it, more depressed by it.

15

No fear of death, but I am scared by the pain of dying.

16

Every now and then I think about it, and how I’ll just stop existing. Everything I am, everything I feel, will just… stop. And that frightens me. I won’t even know I’m dead, because I’ll be dead. And that’s a very uncomfortable thought.

17

The pain of death, but nothing more.

18

Not afraid of death but I just don’t wanna be there when it happens.

Seriously: At my tender age of 65 I’m not afraid at all of death, what I am afraid of is burning to death

19

Like others here, I’m not worried about death, per se. I mean, it’s *going * to happen, and like **tonedef ** said, what’s the point in worrying about that which you can’t control? I’d rather devote my energy to living the best life that I can–a life that, hopefully, will be a long and relatively healthy and fulfilling one.

Now, if I had to go before “my time,” I’d rather go in my sleep. If I can’t have that, though, I’ll take quick and painless. And, of course, if I were to ever become terminally ill, I do believe that I’d choose not to stick aroiund and live in pain and with a deteriorating quality of life. Honestly, what’s the point?

That being said, I’m occasionally led to think about death, and just how unexpectedly it can come upon you–accident, murder–and I find myself…I don’t know, humbled, by just how fragile life can be and how very suddenly it can be over.

But worry about it? Fear it? Nah–I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

And dovetailing on what **Cicero ** and **Contrapuntal ** said, sometimes, when I think about the condition of humanity–when I *really * think about the senseless, needless harm that we continue to do to each other, vador l’vador (from generation to generation)–I say to myself, “Yeah, the day will surely come when I’ll welcome the sweet. sweet release of death.” I’m not there yet, though.

Oh, and not believing in any kind of afterlife, I’m actually fine with the notion–however difficult it may be to wrap my brain around it, to actually *imagine * it–that I’ll simply cease to exist.

20

I’m concerned about the impact on my children and I’m not a big fan of pain, but death itself? Not at all.
I’d like to come back and haunt a few people after, but wormfood is almost as good.