Why death?

Sometimes I worry about death. Nobody especially close to me has died, but I wonder if that makes it even more ominous. Once at work, I was dusting and just started worrying so much that my wife would get in a car accident or something that I started to cry (it didn't help that I was listening to the song "How Can I Live Without You?"). On other occasions I may not be worried about the imminent future, but I realize that we'll all die someday and that's enough to make today not so great.

Loss and Grief by Patrick Emerson

But as I have learned with all opposition (I sort of hate admitting this, because I'm still not a fan of opposition), there is a lot that I can learn from it. If there were no death, then I don't think I would value people as much; I would take them for granted. The idea of a person dying makes that person vividly real and important to me.

You can estimate the economic value of a life. Look at two jobs which are similar in every regard except 1) pay and 2) risk of death. Next, multiply the hourly wage difference by 1 over the difference in the percentage chance of death. Multiply that number by the number of hours they would otherwise live. That gives you an estimation of their life's economic value according to what they demand in compensation for reduced safety. If it takes 5 dollars more an hour for a person to take a riskier job, all else equal, then that difference in safety during that hour is valued at 5 dollars, and that information can be extrapolated to estimate how much a person values the rest of their life.

This calculation bothers some people. Why? I think because we recognize that there is a value in people beyond this life, evidenced in part by the pain associated with the death of loved ones.

The depth of our feelings also indicates that there is an afterlife. I experience non-physical feelings, spiritual feelings, when I am with my family and/or talking about God and His plan for our families.  I have felt such happy and tender emotions towards my family that I don't think that the death of my body could make those spiritual feelings go away.

Perhaps my greatest comfort with regard to death is my overall testimony of God. I know that He lives and loves us, that He answers our prayers and has a plan for our eternal selves. While I still worry a lot, I know that I can find joy by anxiously serving God in this life and in that way, I can find a fullness of joy in the next life.