Life or Afterlife? Throughout history humans have been concerned about the after life. The ancient Egyptians built massive pyrimids to house their bodie and possesions so that they could have everything they needed for the "next life". The first emperor of China had an army of terricotta soilders built to protect him in the after life. Queen Isabella of Spain made sure she would be burried in a monk's robes to make certain she made it to heaven. Why am I telling you this? In this day and age we often hear of teens dying in car accidents. For a lot of you those storries probaly seem distant. Some of us know what it feels like when these storries hit too close to home. It's hard when a friend of yours dies, no matter how it happened. For me it was a one car accident. I had only know this girl for a couple of months when it happened. She was on my swim team, and she usually swam relays with me. One night she went to Iowa City with her friend, and she didn't make it home. The driver had swerved for a raccon, and the car rolled into the cornfeild at the side of the road. My friend hadn't been wearing her seatbelt, and she was ejected. She died latter at the hospital from internal bleeding. After it happened I began thinking about life. What was the use of us being here if we were just going to die anyway? Was there any reason at all? What matters, life or the after life? At the funeral the pastor talked about how my friend had had a good relationship with God. After hearing him I was sure that my friend must be in heaven, dispite anything wrong she might have done. I thought about it and now I think that maybe life is something that prepares us for the after life. It's how we liveour lives that matters, not how much money you have, or what your grades are. When we're gone those things won't affect anything. How we lived will. So we should strive to live a life of chairity and virtue. That's not to say that everyone should enter convent. When we dye things will just be things, but we will be rembered by our actions. How do you want to be remebered?