&gt;filled with a total dread of death<p>I&#x27;m not sure I&#x27;ve successfully communicated my feeling about this. It&#x27;s less like a total dread of death and more like a total dread of losing life, if that makes any sense.<p>Do you have any close loved ones---a younger brother, a daughter, a close friend? Anyone for whom you might consider sacrificing yourself; anyone who you believe to be a shining light unto the world. Say that person is eaten by cancer. Once they are dead, they feel no pain; this is clear to me, and is not central in my judgement.<p>What is central is the lost blossoming of a mind. A rich internal experience, a reflective world with joy, dreams, and curiosity, is not a thing that should be destroyed. A mind that wishes to continue seeing the world and its people, and other minds wishing that mind to continue shining its light, annihilated---don&#x27;t look away from the pain! If you look away from the pain, you lose your already slim opportunity to fight back.