One of the worst and best things about waking up is realizing that despite what you've been taught as a child, you are going to die one day. That was EASY for me to handle, as I've had near death medical emerigencies. The hardest part is the thought of losing your parents. They are just turning 60. To be honest, the thought of them dying from old age scares me. My grandparents are still alive, which is amazing, so hopefully my parents live long too. I know they didn't expect to still be in this system. I wonder what they're thinking, or if they're having doubts. We JWs are taught that the end will occur in our lifetime. Heck, we won't even have time to finish school. This means that people born into the JW religion often don't take the time to contemplate their mortality. Thankfully my parents were converts so they happen to be more open minded thinkers and have always encouraged me to plan for the future, retirement etc.
Whether you believe in heaven or not, I think it at least gives people something hopeful to look forward to while at the same time allowing them to responsibly accept the inevitability of death. And since you can't find out if heaven exists until you after die, you will never be disappointed! After all was that not what the book of Ecclesiastes is about? Live a meaningful life, because there is nothing you can do in Sheol? In contrast think of all the people who accepted the teaching that they would be in paradise before the generation of 1914 passed away. All the people who decided to not live their life because the end was near. They decided not to have children soley because they believed the end would come in a few years. Somehow we have told many people to believe that they won't die. To me that's the greatest lie. Sounds just like what the serpent told Eve.
