[atsushin]

Last week I watched Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal which deals with this question quite literally, as the main character spends most of the plot in conflict with the very personification of death, in the era of the Black Plague when it seemed everyone was dropping like flies.

Some people obsess over what's beyond and fall to despair or cling to religion when there's no definite answer, not that any of us know anyway. Death is probably easier to deal with if you're alone and have nothing, but that in itself makes life much more bland. Bergman probably agreed, at least that's the way I understand it now -- keeping yourself busy with community and the pure things that make life sweeter like strawberries, like family and friends, is how humanity 'ought' to face the realization that life is short. Sure, you'll be scared when the time comes but at least it was a life with meaning.