I want to preface this by saying that I am not in a state of depression or anything along those lines, but rather I am simply wondering about this from an intellectual standpoint.
So here's what I'm thinking. Once you're dead, nothing you experienced during your life matters to you. Of course, chances are your death will affect others who are still alive - this is generally the go to response to my first point. However, they will eventually die too, and as such the effect your death had on them will lose all meaning. So we have already reached a point where your death itself is irrelevant. Since everyone will die eventually, anything that happens in their lives is irrelevant in the long run. The reason I bring up this point is because a response to the rest of what I've said so far may be something along the lines of "you can do good when you're alive".
Do I agree with slavery? No. However, what impact would be experienced if no-one who helped end it in the west was born? If they were not born, eventually everyone would be dead. Since they were born...eventually everyone will be dead. You see my point? It is of course very Nihilistic, but I cannot see a legitimate argument against it.
Maybe you're religious. Let's take Christianity for example. Why on earth would you want to stay alive if you were a Christian? Once you're dead you get to go to heaven. The only reasoning I could understand is being evangelical. However, there are many Christians who believe everyone will go to heaven whether they were a Christian during life or not.
So while religion can provide some with a very small reason to live, it also provides all believers with a much better reason to die. From my viewpoint, I see no reason to think there will be any experience past this life, so I have neither.
As you might've picked up, I have no reason to die either. So I guess really my question is more like "why care if you live or die?". The reason I didn't ask it like that is that the focus in general life is on reasons to live, and not exactly on reasons to die.
I am genuinely interested to hear what other people have to say about this matter.
Lol, not a bad answer.
But I'm going to reply seriously. No matter what you make of life, it is irrelevant in the long run. Now, I'm not saying don't do anything - there's no reason to do nothing either. All I'm talking about is the overall impact it has on reality. As much as it pains me to say so, all that puss isn't going to mean a thing eventually. It only has meaning when someone is alive to experience it, and that experience will eventually be irrelevant as well.
And I'd suggest that the existence of an afterlife would just make what we do while we're alive even more pointless.