Ever since I was a small kid, I've been accused by people who know me well of being morbid. I often consider my own death, think about the people I will leave behind and what I will leave unfinished. I think it's an outgrowth of my general disposition toward
planning for the worst, but it may also have to do with having more than one, completely unrelated serious illness when I was seven years old.
Whatever the cause, my morbid fascination was a leg up in high school when I started reading Eastern philosophy.
