This is the translation of an article by Umberto Eco published in the magazine L’Espresso on June 12th 1997. You can find a scan of the original article here: http://www.noha.it/public/ECO1997.jpg .
I’m not sure if I’m saying anything really original, but one of the biggest problems of the human being is how to face death. It seems that the problem is a difficult one for the non-believers (how to face the Nothing that awaits us thereafter?), although statistics tell us that the matter is embarrassing for a whole lot of believers too, who firmly believe that there is life after death, and yet they think that life before death is per se so enjoyable that it would be unpleasant to abandon it; therefore ye
It seems clear that I’m presenting the issue of what it means to be a being-for-death, or even just recognising that all men are mortals. It seems easy, as long as it regards Socrates, but it becomes difficult when it comes to us. And the hardest moment will be when we will truly realise that in one instant we are still here and the next one we will not be anymore.