What I find interesting about this statement is the assumption that this life is merely a waiting room for the next one, a temporary stage where our real existence begins only after death.
As a humanist, I take a different view. This life matters precisely because it is the only life we know for certain that we have.
The suffering of people matters now. Justice matters now. Education, healthcare, freedom, and human dignity matter now.
If a child is hungry today, telling them that a better world awaits after death does not fill their stomach. If a person is oppressed today, promises of future rewards do not erase their suffering.
Human beings live, love, struggle, and hope in this world, not in a hypothetical one. This does not mean that people of faith cannot do good.
Many religious people dedicate their lives to helping others, and I respect that. But I would argue that the value of those actions lies in the fact that they improve lives here and now, regardless of what one believes about the afterlife.
Humanism begins with the recognition that human beings are responsible for the world we share. We cannot rely on divine intervention to solve poverty, war, injustice, or environmental destruction.
If these problems are to be addressed, it will be through human effort, human compassion, and human cooperation. Ironically, seeing life as finite often increases its value.
A flower is precious because it blooms for a short time.
A friendship is meaningful because it will not last forever.
A human life gains significance not despite its limits, but because of them.
So I do not see this world as a playground. I see it as our home. It is where children are raised, where communities are built, where knowledge is discovered, where art is created, and where kindness can change someone's life.
Whether there is another world beyond this one remains a matter of belief. But this world is a matter of fact. It is the world we can touch, experience, and influence.
That is why humanists place such importance on making it better—not because we reject meaning, but because we believe meaning is something we create together, here and now.
June 2026
