When Breath Becomes Air

by Paul Kalanithi

If the unexamined life was not worth living, was the unlived life worth examining?

Cadaver dissection epitomizes, for many, the transformation of the somber, respectful student into the callous, arrogant doctor.

Once, while showing us the ruins of our donor’s pancreatic cancer, the professor asked, “How old is this fellow?” “Seventy-four,” we replied. “That’s my age,” he said, set down the probe, and walked away.

Severe illness wasn’t life-altering, it was life-shattering. It felt less like an epiphany—a piercing burst of light, illuminating What Really Matters—and more like someone had just firebombed the path forward. Now I would have to work around it.