No More Time

There is a moment in every person's life (or maybe afterlife is the better word here) when he or she realizes that there is no more time to right the wrongs of the past. No matter how much we may struggle, or scheme, or even pray, every game of chess leads to that one moment when the king is in checkmate. Our hero may have reached that moment; and if that is the case, then must he sit back and watch as his king is taken off of the board, or can he wipe the board off the table? What is more horrifying when there is no more time: shrugging the shoulders and accepting the end, or going down in a violent fit of defiance? Is the rebel as stone cold dead as the submissive?