One thing that shaped my view that the value on life is conditional was mowing the law of an elderly neighbor when I was twelve. He could barely get around and his wife was blind as a bat and couldn't hear well. They didn't get any visitors, including their own children, so when I would go into to collect my payment, I would sit and talk with him for an hour or so. Every time I would ask him how he was doing he responded with, "Awful. I'm just waiting to die." Then he would go on and on about how horrible he felt and how god must have forgotten about him. As a twelve-year old, somebody wanting to die was a foreign concept to me, and it really opened my eyes to the fact that we need to be practical about how we deal with life and death.
I also really appreciated the fact that he didn't sugarcoat reality for me even though I was young, but in hindsight, he may just have been too old to give a shit anymore.
I also really appreciated the fact that he didn't sugarcoat reality for me even though I was young, but in hindsight, he may just have been too old to give a shit anymore.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
