All the Heroes Are Dead

Life becomes meaningful only when we bring in the concept of life after death. Divested by the concept of an Afterlife, worldly life loses all its significance. It becomes so inexplicable that both life and death have no meaning.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), the celebrated American author whose correspondence during his military career has been published in book form, participated in the war against Italy in 1918. At one point, he was injured in battle and had to be hospitalized, during which time he wrote several letters to his relatives. In one letter, he writes:

“There are no heroes in this war. All the heroes are dead. Moreover, the real heroes are the parents. They suffer a thousand times more. Moreover, how much better to die in the happy period of undisillusioned youth, go out in a blaze of light, and have your body worn out and illusions shattered.” (Life, June 1981)

These words paint a gloomy, depressing picture of life.

Man seems to be born into this world only to disappear from it in a hundred years, more or less worn out with old age. If this is all life has in store, one should instead end one’s life in the hope-filled period of youth by taking a heroic plunge into the unknown.

Only when we bring in the concept of life after death do our old age and youth assume any significance. Separate the two; there is nothing but gloom and despair to haunt us forever. Divested by the concept of an Afterlife, worldly life loses all its significance. It becomes so inexplicable and mysterious that life and death have no meaning.