everybody knows there is unlimited lifetime ahead of them, they do not need to
treasure every second, and they can even postpone everything. Admittedly, actions
that taken under emergencies are still unlikely to be postponed, like run from a fire
disaster. But non-urgent actions, such as reading or exercises, can be forever
delayed. By having the finitude of life span, people know if they do not use their
time well, they do not have time to make up, and they will tend to cherish every
minute. Thus, according to this theory, death should not terrify us but motivate us.
More specifically, how death relates to motivations? By definition, a certain
expiration date of life sets the deadline to everything in one’s life. If people miss the
deadline, their life ends. Even some people only have a small amount of time left,
the motivation that this deadline brings can make their life meaningful one last time.
An event in real life could prove this idea. Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest
physicists in contemporary, proposed many theories about the black hole and the
whole universe. In his early twenties, he diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
a serious disease which doctor suggested he only has two years left. Living with the
awareness of imminent death, Hawking firmly focused on his research to fight
against the fate. Although he died last year, he turned out to live much longer than
everyone ever predicted and became a successful and respectable scientist.
From Hawking’s example, we can see how strong scientists are hen they
fight against the death. Sometimes, the discussion of death can also relate to
religion. In the novel Looking for Alaska, Dr. Hyde is a professor that teaches
religion at Alaska’s high school. One day, when he lectures about death and the
meaning of life, he says, “Muhammad brought the promise that anyone could find-
...everlasting life through allegiance to the one true God. The Buddha held out hope
that suffering could be transcended. Jesus brought the message that the last shall be
first, that even...the outcasts...had cause for hope” (Green 215). His statement
summarizes the quintessence of three religions. To elaborate on the ideas, let us take
Islam as an example. In Islamic culture, death does not represent the ultimate termi-
nation, but the separation of mortal body and the soul. A died person will be trans-
ferred to after life from this world. As the Quran proposes, “you will be returned to
God; then each soul will be rewarded fully for what it has earned, and they will not
be wronged” (The Quran 02:281).