Interesting thoughts here.
Going by the concept that the days of life of each person are numbered from the start, one might say that the "process of dying" begins from the moment that you take your first breath; from then on, your predetermined (though usually unknowable, unless you're in an extreme situation such as death row) number of days start to tick away...so we're all "dying" even as we speak.
Some people are saying that they don't want to die before accomplishing something, maybe to be remembered by. My question is: what if you don't? Most people don't. That is the reality of our world. If you think about it, only a handful of George Washingtons and Napoleon Bonapartes will ever arise, in the history of mankind, and be remembered in any significant capacity. Most others will MAYBE have their name in a newspaper a few times, if they happen to be locally noteworthy. Ultimately, your odds of lasting recognition and remembrance in the history books are quite poor. Truth is, most people are eventually forgotten by the world.
Zucas brings up a good point. Currently, Adolf Hitler is just as dead as Mother Theresa is. Their lives, while drastically different, ultimately met the same EXACT end: death. Whatever amount of good we do will not save us from the same fate of that of a mass-murderer. So what's the point of morality? Why waste time with the relative standards of "good" and "moral" when you only have a short amount of time on this earth to do whatever you want?
I believe the answer is that there's more to it than this. There's a bigger picture than just living life, being good, and dying; what a miserable, hopeless existence that sounds like. After all, some people have no family... some people have no friends... some people have no hope of accomplishment or recognition... some people are born blind and deaf!! What "difference" can they possibly hope to make in the world? Are their lives meaningless? Is your life any more meaningful than theirs? By the measuring sticks of "making a difference" or "being remembered" "or living because my family and friends love me," the answer is most likely yes. But does that feel right to you? To me, it definitely does not. It only makes sense for there to be something else.
Something more...
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