This verse might seem foolish to suggest death is better than birth but Solomon was the wisest man ever to walk the earth. Man is born to trouble, and death for the righteous is a release into the immediate presence of Christ. For the wicked the soul goes to torment. Can we say, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain?” It is also a day of realisation that all we have gone through has been more than worthwhile, and a day of reunion with those who have fallen asleep.