If I ever have kids, I'm not going to tell them that people go places when they die. I would let them know in my own way that that's when they stop going places. I'd explain to them that that's why life is precious and should be respected and lived to the fullest, because it's finite.
I wouldn't want my kids to become fearful that they might experience an eternity of damnation if they act or don't act in a certain way.
We've got one life to live, so make it count. People might remember you when you die, or they might not. They might mourn losing you, or they might rejoice. What you do in life will dictate these things.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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