“I just want to die gracefully.”“Is there a lot of fear wrapped...

“I just want to die gracefully.”

“Is there a lot of fear wrapped up in that desire?”

“Of course there is. Facing the inevitable physical decline, not knowing what’s ahead. Hospital visits, chemotherapy, it’s all very scary. Fear is the oldest and strongest emotion, and it springs from the unknown. What was that T.S. Eliot quote, something about “interstellar spaces…”

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From East Coker,

by T.S. Eliot

"O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,

The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,

The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,

Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,

Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark.”