Death and all his friends.

I made a post some time ago about creativity, about how creativity is a lot more about putting old things together in new ways than it is about anything else.
But the same principle applies to all sorts of thinking! Like the other night, I couldn't fall asleep and I just lied awake in my bed, thinking about things.
Four thoughts merged at this point:

1. I saw Troy on tv in the christmas holiday. I'm not a huge fan of that movie, it's a bit "Oh-hey-Gladiator-was-good-let's-make-some-classical-epic-movie". But the start is really good. It starts by Oddysseus (which is the narrator voice) says: "Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: Will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"
2. In the same film, Achilles says: "The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."
3. A friend mine was in a relationship with an expiry date. She was staying in Norway, he was moving to Australia. The agreement was that when he left Norway, the relationship would end. My friend told me that a lot of friends had asked her what it was like to be in a relationship like that, thinking it must be awkward. Her thoughts on it was that knowing it would end meant that the time they did have together was made even more valuable.
4. When asked, Indians are more likely to say they are happy than Norwegians are, although Norwegians are generally richer, safer and healthier.

So, if you know something will only last for a while, it becomes more valuable to you. We have a saying in Norway, "Evig eies kun det tapte". The only things you'll own forever are things you've already lost. In this case, knowing you certainly will lose it at some point allows to you appreciate it while you have it.

When put together, one could come up with a theory like this: If you live in an environment so safe that death seems almost fictional, it's harder to appreciate life. This theory could lead us to think that the happiest people on Earth are the people on the Gaza Strip and in Congo. They should live lives bristling with colour and love. But it's not fear of dying that makes every moment more valuable, being afraid of the inevitable end will only take focus away from what you do have.

exclusively some non-materialistic way of life that ensures appreciation of the "true values of life", it is awareness of the cold, hard fact that life can indeed end abruptly, possibly sooner rather than later. Norwegians on the other hand, are so unlikely to die that death becomes ungraspable, it is hard to imagine it will all end some day.

Life is short, eat your dessert first. And love fiercely.