Life, as an impermanent phenomenon, is subject to the suffering of change.  John Len Chapman (aka Memphis_Slim ) lays down the bare facts about Impermanence and the great democracy of death in his song, Mother Earth.

Mother Earth

You can high hat me all the time.
You may never go my way.
But Mother Earth is laying for you,
Because there’s a debt you gotta pay.
You know, I don’t care how great you are
And I don’t care what you’re worth.

Because When it all ends up,
You’ve got to go back to Mother Earth.

You may own half a city
Or even diamonds and pearls.
You may buy an airplane, Baby,
And fly all over this world,
But I don’t care how great you are
And I don’t care what you’re worth

Because When it all ends up,
You know, you’ve got to go back to Mother Earth.

You may play the horse races.
You may own a race track.
You may have enough money
To buy anything you lack,
But I don’t care how great you are
People and I don’t care what you’re worth.

Because when it all ends up,
We’ve got to, you’ve got to, go back to Mother Earth.

Memphis Slim

Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda writes, “Buddhism teaches that we must seek harmony on a more profound level. We must achieve a state of compassion deep enough to enable us to find our common humanity and transcend distinctions between ourselves and others.”

After all, we all share the commonality of life itself.  We find ourselves contemporaneously born into this miracle of creation.  We all seek happiness to avoid suffering.  And ultimately, we’ve all got to go back to Mother Earth.