The expectation that someone else will, in the long run, make us happy is the perfect way to end up unhappy. - Stanislav Stodůlka

Who knows, maybe it's totally awesome after death. We just don't know, so we are afraid, and so we often try to hold on here 'tooth and nail'.

Give an animal better intelligence and you get man.

And if you think you've messed up everything you possibly could have? If you believe in reincarnation, you can at least console yourself with the idea that, in the next life, you will try again and do it better. That is, if you're 'lucky' enough to come back here as a human and not as, say, a Thanksgiving turkey.