Originally posted by Jalexxi
Well, I like how you can only combine thinking of life as valuable and death as a bad thing in this poll. How about life is valuable, but death still is overrated? Life is valuable because you can feel joy and pain, and cause them in others. You can marvel at the world, stand in awe of it's beauty. You can't do these things in death (with the possible exception of spiritual life, reincarnation, etc. but I'll go with the general opinion here), but that doesn't mean that death is something to shun or be afraid of. I mean, if there's nothing after death, you don't have to worry about a thing! Just rest awaits you, that's not horrifying or terrible.

I'd say life is valuable, but death isn't a bad thing. I'll certainly say it's silly to be afraid of it when it's going to happen anyway. The worst part of torture isn't the pain, it's the fear. And in this case, there's not even pain to be afraid about. So why subject yourself to that other experience?
I think life has value . It has value to people who care about you . Remember when you were young , like real young , and when someone killed a bug or your pet died you felt sadness ? You didn't feel that sadness because of the pain it felt , you felt it because the creatures life is lost , and no matter how small and insignificant it was you still feel that feeling inside . But the as you grow older you see more and more death , become accustomed to its presence in everyday life . Its just something that happends .

When someone you know dies of natural causes , you still feel sadness , not because they are now at rest , but because you can never talk to them again , maybe you didnt say what you wanted to say before they died . But to the person who died , what you did or didnt say is irrelevant (assuming when you die you actually die and dont "live forever eternally" ) becasue they feel nothing , no sadness , no pain , they are no longer in existance , their body is just a symbol of who they were , who they really were is then only left behind on your mind . But you may also feel resolved , as they have told their story of life , all may look back and read their book of life and take on board what they found to be as most improtant about that person . Its kind of selfish when you think about it , feeling sad for someone who died , you think of how it effects you and not what they achieved .

Any , back to the topic . Noone can prove whether life has valuse , it is up to the individual to decide what was gained from that life and whether it was good that they lived or not . Ill try to express my opinion of the importance of life . If you look at what man has achieved , what we have discovered about this universe , and also what we have done to the world and each other to get here you can look at it two ways . You can say , 'life is senseless , it only brings violence and pain and destruction' but then why is it that you feel that way , surely you must then care about life and existence so much to have those feelings . Because without life , if earth existed as it is today but with no life on it , you would shuerly think it such a waste that noone can experience it and enjoy it . Evolution also plays a part in this , for if we didn't care so much about life we would never have survived as a species . Looking back at prehistoric man , he obviously cared for life . Burial sites are numerous which show a respect for that persons life they had .

So , i think life is important and has value , and even though pain and suffering may spoil it to an extent , without life the entire universe is a futile waste of space .