What if it turns out
that there is no afterlife?
That may come as a letdown to some,
but the good news is
that the believers of every religion
won’t experience the least disappointment
for the simple reason
that they will be dead at that point
and incapable of experiencing anything.
Same goes for the skeptics,
agnostics, and the card-carrying atheists.
No opportunity to smirk or brag
for the same reason mentioned above.
I was thinking about this
on my drive to the beach one Sunday
when I saw a flock of well-dressed people
filing into a clapboard church
under a tall, white steeple.
I did not turn the car around,
pull up to the church door,
and deliver this news from the roof of the car.
No, I drove on with the radio up loud
and the windows down,
content to keep those tidings to myself,
a faithless congregation of one,
now driving much too fast
and just as afraid of heaven as he is of hell.