On October 30, 2002, David Letterman devoted his entire show to one guest, Warren Zevon. If anything, you know Zevon from the song “Werewolves of London”, but I picked the video above because it’s Zevon’s last public performance. He would die just a few months later from mesothelioma, a brutal and deadly cancer that stems from exposure to asbestos.

Asked by Letterman if Zevon had any insights into life and death. Zevon shrugged and said, “Enjoy every sandwich.”

It might seem strange that someone on the verge of imminent death would have a sense of humor – even on The Late Show – but see, it’s not really strange at all. Why?

Because Zevon was a Jew. And if he had been Chinese, I venture to guess that things would have played out in the same fashion.

To get the Jew side of things out of the way, we just don’t believe in heaven or hell. So there’s that.

The Chinese side of things is a bit more interesting. You see, the Chinese were introduced to the concept of hell by Christian missionaries and the Chinese just thought that “hell” was the English word for “afterlife”. At Chinese funerals, they burn bank notes so that the dead will have money to spend underground. With their hell money, the dead can bribe the ruler of hell to go spend the rest of his money in heaven. However, if the dead runs out of money, he will spend the afterlife in eternal poverty.

So here’s the real question: as a Chinese-Jew, what am I to do? One side of me says, “Are you insane? You can’t burn money!” but the other side laughs and says, “But remember, you must bribe the keeper of hell”… it’s difficult to get a grip on, but I’m sure there’s a compromise in me somewhere.