Never fear death. Because in the end, somebody will be there for you.
You have almost certainly met him already. Probably only once or twice, but no matter how many times, he will have been happy to see you. He may even have given you a gift.
Then for a large part of your life, you will refuse to accept he exists. Don’t worry, because somewhere in your brain, you do remember. And you will see him again.
Take Sally, who decided to ignore the sage advice of wearing a helmet when cycling in traffic, thanks to a newspaper article that argued statistically a helmet was more dangerous. Now she lay shivering on the tarmac, drifting in and out of consciousness. Someone told her the ambulance was on its way.
The man’s in the red and white suit jiggled as he walked toward her. His beard was bushy, and trailed all the way down to his crimson trousers. He crouched next to Sally, a big smile on his face.
‘Hello,’ he said, the grin creasing his ruddy face into a hundred wrinkles.
Sally smiled back. She remembered the first time she had met him, in that shopping centre thirty years before.
'I’m sorry this is such a ridiculous situation,’ she said. 'I promise I’ve tried to be good.’
Santa beamed. He loved Sally. Like he loved all the others.
'Don’t worry. You’ve nothing to worry about. Look, I got you something.’
Santa pulled out a package from his the innards of his coat, covered in green wrapping paper with red ribbon wrapped in neat lines, and a perfect bow. It must have been the size of a sewing machine.
Sally grinned again. She knew what was inside.
Santa waited until she was gone, then headed back to his sleigh. Even though it was July, there were a lot of presents to hand out tonight.
This is why you should never fear death. Because life ends with your oldest friend, and a present.