“Why should I wash? Would I be better off than I am? Would I please someone more? Would I live a day, an hour longer? I would probably live a shorter time, because to wash is an effort, a waste of energy and warmth. Does not Steinlauf know that after half an hour with the coal sacks every difference between him and me will have disappeared? The more I think about it, the
more washing one’s face in our condition seems a stupid feat, even frivolous: a mechanical habit, or worse, a dismal repetition of an extinct rite. We will all die, we are all about to die: if they give me ten minutes between the revile and work, I want to dedicate them to something else, to draw into myself, to weigh up things, or merely to look at the sky and think that I am looking at it perhaps for the last time; or even to let myself live, to indulge myself in the luxury of an idle moment” (Pg 40).As I was reading this passage, I pondered for few minutes. We all die soon or later, and no one knows when he will die. Our deaths could be waiting for us in next day or even next hour. Then does that mean that we should not work and live up to our full potential and ability? When we consider this idea, we do not see the purpose of life. We might ask ourselves ‘why are we living and working or studying so hard anyway? We should be better off by being hedonists, enjoying all the pleasures in this life on earth’. I think that is the difference between non-Christians and Christians. Christians believe that the purpose of our lives is to live according to God, who said that we should show the unconditional love of God to others. To fulfill that purpose, it requires effort and the belief of eternal life. People, who do not believe in eternal life that is waiting ahead of us, will view their life as a joke and a waste of energy and time because they do not see how our life on earth will depend our future destination to either heaven or hell. Therefore we should live every day with our full potential and ability and according to what God tell us to do.
