Not Scared To Die

The doctor looked at the test results again.

“Your blood sugar is too high. Your blood pressure too. You need to take this seriously.”

The man nodded.

“You must change your diet. Exercise. Take your medication. If you continue like this, you could…”

“Die?” the man asked.

The doctor paused.

“Yes.”

The man smiled, not happily, not sadly. Just knowingly.

“Doc, I’m not scared to die.”

The doctor studied him carefully.

“I’m not depressed,” the man added. “I’m not trying to die either. I like being alive. I have things to do. People to annoy.”

That earned the doctor a small laugh.

The man leaned back.

“But death is one appointment nobody can cancel. If it comes today, tomorrow, or forty years from now, what exactly can I do about it?”

“You can try to stay alive,” the doctor said.

“Exactly,” he replied. “And that is what I’m here for.”

The doctor smiled.

“Then start with less sugar.”

The man sighed.

For the first time that morning, death seemed easy.

It was the diet that terrified him.