[Buddha-l] How Khushwant Singh does

[Richard Hayes]

On Aug 8, 2011, at 0:47, Erik Hoogcarspel <jehms at xs4all.nl> wrote:

> I wonder if it is 
> the pain that makes thinking about death so terrible.

Mark Twain observed that the reason we are glad when someone is born and sad when someone dies is because we're not the one involved. 

Another American essayist and humorist, James Thurber, was in a hotel when it caught fire and had to be evacuated. He had become blind by this time of his life. When asked whether he was afraid when he heard the fire alarm and realized he would have to find his way to safety without being able to see, Thurber said, "If I didn't panic the moment I found out I was a human being, nothing of lesser gravity is likely to scare me."

I don't know how universal these sentiments are. It may be only in America that the prospect of being born is more sobering than the prospect of dying.