All those who are born will die. It is a certainty.

Some will live for long, and some will die rather early. Some will have a fruitful, satisfying life, while others may have to go through pain, disappointments, heartbreaks and failures. But, in the end, we all will die. The exact chain of events and its length is uncertain. Death, on the other hand, is a definite certainty.

That sets the stage for the drama that is about to unfold. That puts in perspective what I’m going to ask next.

When death is a certainty, and the life in between holds the possibility of pain and suffering, why don’t we kill our newborns the moment they come to this world? My proposal is humane to the extreme. Kill preventively to spare them all the hardships that life may offer and take them to the ultimate end, the end that they anyway are slowly and might even be painfully gravitating towards.

Are you alarmed by my suggestion? Do you find it absurd, or even insane at its very core? Is the premise flawed? Why? How?

Aren't you killing a lot of your dreams and ambitions by the same logic?

Despite knowing the ultimate end, and how each story will culminate, we nurture our newborns with utmost care. We bring them into this world and give them a chance at life by preparing them for what they might encounter. We try our best to make sure they have all the required tools and skills for the challenges that they might be confronted with. Some of these newborns make it through comfortably, rest struggle to make their way past the plethora of obstacles that life throws their way. In many ways, no one is ever fully spared as none can be fully prepared. Yet, they learn, some better than others. They live, some more vigorously than others. They become masters of their own destiny, in whatever proportion they choose to be.

The important point is, we give them a chance. A chance at life, for life to play out completely. A chance to stand up to the odds that they will be dealt. What would life be without an individual’s unique choices, chances, and even blunders? Since the end is fixed, it is the uncertainty between the two fixed points that makes life beautiful. Worthy of efforts.

But let us circle back to the issue of dreams and ambitions. How many times have you rejected an idea close to your heart because you had a feeling it might not work out? How many times have you given up on dreams because the odds of failure were high? How many times have you given up without trying because people told you that they already know how it is going to end? How many deaths have you already died?

When we set any event for a future date, be it a meeting or a lunch or a movie date, we are showing resilience towards death, a certainty, and taking a chance on life. If we already have this quality within us, if we possess this courage in going about our daily lives, why are we preventively killing our dreams and ambitions? How bad could it get? It might sting a little, but is it absolutely not worth taking a chance?

When we are willing to rise up against the certainty of death on a daily basis, when we are willing to find meaning in life despite the fixed fate that we acquired right when we were born, why do we hesitate to do something close to our hearts? When the failure is not even a certainty, merely a chance, what are we so afraid of? We ask what if we fail. Let me ask you: What if we succeed? Won’t you want to know how it turned out?

When life itself is not never-ending, how can pain, suffering and failures be permanent? Go out, and live a little more. Don’t kill your dreams and ambitions and your soul before the final day of reckoning.