One hundred years from now, you will not be alive. Nor will the people standing beside you. Morbid, one might think. Perhaps. However, it’s the cold truth. One hundred years from now, all the people around you will have passed on. Just take a moment to search your surroundings. View the people, walking, talking, sharing coffee with one another, gabbing about sports or the weather. The truth is we all die. weather. The truth is we all die.

As you step aside from the frosty truth, I encourage you to wonder what is after death. Yes, that’s it - the afterlife. Some may call it heaven, others a "better place." Some say it doesn’t exist, while others believe there is definitely something there.

Will, an atheist from Denver, Colorado, believes in no such thing. He states, "I do not believe in the afterlife because I have not been there, nor has any other being."

However Shannan from Utica, New York, believes that there is indeed an afterlife. Hailing from Catholicism, she believes that if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are accepted in heaven. If not, you go to hell. She also believes in a state of retribution, or plane in between both realms, many call purgatory. Shannan says, "If you have killed someone, but have turned to Jesus afterward, you will be put in purgatory until Jesus decides what to do with you."

Clearly here are two spectrums, vastly different from each other. Brian, from the Jewish faith, believes that there is definitely an afterlife, and it is all based on how good one is and how we treat one another. Tom, who is agnostic, believes and lives by pleasure and self-awareness. He believes that people shouldn’t dwell in what they’ve done, but forgive themselvesthemselves and move on. "As for heaven, I believe that everyone’s ‘heaven’ is different. Whatever you think heaven is, it will be that to you."

From my personal experiences, it seems that this particular lifestyle and belief is very common among the people I interviewed.

"I don’t believe in organized religion…but some form of God” says Gina from Rome, New York. “The only form of the afterlife I would believe, that would make sense, would be reincarnation. I’d like to think the body dies, but the soul doesn’t."

Still,Still, many others I spoke to, who are agnostic and some even Catholic or Methodist, try not to think about heaven.

"I know that there is something out there, but man, I don’t really want to think about it at all," says Jim from Whitesboro, New York.

MarkMark who is Methodist states nearly the same: "I absolutely think and believe that something’s out there after you die. What it is? No idea because I don’t think about it, nor really want to."

ItIt almost seemed that when asked about the afterlife, certain people had a tendency to clam up and even fear the topic. No one could ever be so sure, they say, unless an individual has actually tasted death.

Bon,Bon, a young man who was born and raised in India, believes a little differently than the others. As far as religion is concerned, he is part of an Indian Orthodox church, yet has personally conjured up his own belief and uses what he calls "open mindedness." "When it comes to religion, I keep an open mind and respect their teachings. I take lessons fromfrom what the Bible, Buddhist and Hindus teach. I believe that there is a soul. After death, the soul finds a match. Finding a match depends on karma; all the good and bad we do in this life will be counted for. It’s all a cycle: birth, death and the time in between." As for me, do I believe in an afterlife? Most definitely. I believe there’s not only a heaven, but that there’s a God who made it easy to get there. The choice is yours. What do you believe? By John Augustine

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?