Speaking of darkness, here is a truly memorable quote from 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince': "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more" This is, in fact, ingrained on my memory becuase it's a favourite of my sisters'(who recently started writing here: http://letitgo.blog.co.uk/ ). Although it does make sense, I don't entirely agree with it. I'm more inclined to believe that it is our perceptions of the death and darkness, and what lies within, is what we fear. This metaphor goes for all aspects of life, whether you're a troubled teenager afraid of the 'darkness' of real life, or if you're facing a close death and are trying to comprehend what life would be like without that person. Even when facing your own death, I can imagine that you would be afraid of waht you percieve as darkness beyond this life, if you indeed do believe in an afterlife. But please, if anyone reading is on death's door (forgive the mannerism), correct me if I'm wrong. I'm wrong quite a lot nowadays. Sometimes I know I'm wrong, and I'm just debating for the sake of it. Sometimes, I'm corrected. Sometimes, I know I'm right, and that the person 'correcting' me is wrong. But I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. As long as you know you're right, it doesn't matter what anybody else says. And that's another view I hold for every situation, that it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, or believes they know.