LET’S NOT DIE UNTIL WE DIE

Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins:

The full embrace of life, from conception to death, is one of the most basic tenets of our faith.

There are many ways that we can try to limit this embrace. One of the most extreme is abortion, of which birth control is a subset; another is suicide, of which euthanasia is a subset.

But there are many other ways. I remember lying in bed one morning in LA, gazing out across the rooftops, and thinking, Hmmm, drapes might be a good idea. My next thought was: I’m 50—why buy a curtain rod now?

Now that 50 seems like mere infancy, the impulse to shut down early arises more and more often. I’m too old to take a trip, I might think, or Why plant a garden? The planet will be dead in 30 years, anyway.

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.