Opinion

Thinking about the end

By Scott T. Hards

First, I'll apologize for starting 2002 with a column on such a dark subject, but Lately I've been thinking a lot about death. My only aunt has inoperable bone cancer. A close friend's father has terminal lung cancer. A family friend is dying of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). None of these people, all of whom I've known most of my life, are expected to be alive a year from now.

When I write this column, I try to create something that will provoke debate. I intentionally select controversial topics. Apparently I am somewhat successful, as the Shukan ST's editors forward me many messages from readers both in support of and against what I've written.

Lately, when I read notes from people who disagree with me, I've realized that perhaps the most fundamental point where our views diverge is on this same subject of death. Is death the ultimate horror? Something to be feared and avoided at all costs? Or is death just the natural and inevitable conclusion of life? My own view is the latter.

Many seem to want to avoid death so much that they're not afraid to let their efforts worsen their lives. Witness the huge number of people who canceled air travel and vacations after Sept. 11. I like to travel. It broadens my experiences and lets me relax from the stresses of work. For me, the slightly increased risk of being killed by terrorists on a plane is far smaller than the cost to my psyche of canceling my vacation. So just six days after the World Trade Center came down, I was on a plane to Singapore.

The same goes for eating beef. Sure, the risk to my health may be slightly greater than before, even with the government's testing system in place, but I love eating meat! Suffering through a beefless diet just to avoid a tiny, unproven risk is not something I want to do (although some of the ST readers apparently are ready to swear off eating cattle for life).

Life is filled with risks taken for reasons of convenience or pleasure. The biggest statistical risk I take is my daily 230 km round-trip drive to work. I also scuba dive, fly in acrobatic airplanes and ski. Any of these activities could kill me. But I'm not going to stop. The rewards outweigh the risks in my book.

We also risk death to save and improve lives. Medical operations all carry the risk of death, but people go under the knife anyway in the hope of improving their health. The same goes for military operations, such as the U.S. attacks on the Taliban. The people carrying out these missions may be killed. So may innocent bystanders. But we do it anyway in the hope that it will make the world a better place. For me, the scenes of joyous, singing, clean-shaven Afghan men and unveiled Afghan women dancing in the streets of a liberated Kabul proved that the risk had been worth it.

How you view death is a very personal thing, and everyone must decide for themselves how to balance the risks and rewards in their life. But for me, if life were a movie, I'd choose a 90-minute thriller over a three-hour bore every time!

Shukan ST: Jan. 18, 2002

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