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Mortality is Terrifying
Life is short no matter how long we live.
Like others across the world, many Americans are frightened about the spread COVID-19 virus. Some medical experts are predicting that it will affect as much as 80% of the population. We can already observe its fast-moving spread in other countries. Though most of those who get the virus will not have serious symptoms, some will, and the number of fatalities worldwide will grow.
Although you won’t hear anyone say this, no one is afraid of the virus itself. What we are all afraid of is catching the virus and then dying from it.
Death is what we fear. We do not want to lose our lives.
An event like a possible worldwide pandemic forces us to consider our mortality. This is unnerving and terrifying for most of us. We can lose a job and get another one, we can lose money and work to earn more, but if we lose our life, there is no way to get it back. It’s gone and we are gone.
A human’s contemplation of his or her mortality is nothing new. It seems that even the earliest man was concerned with death and the uncertainty of life after death. Even if they believed there was an afterlife, none were in a hurry to die.
Wise men have spoken about the brevity of life for thousands of years. Omar Khayyam, who lived almost a thousand years ago, wrote…
