On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living

by Alan Noble

In Four Quartets, T. S. Eliot writes that “any action is a step to the block.”21 He means that our actions always draw us closer to death, and in that sense every action we take is a wager of our time. When I read Eliot’s poem, I imagine a wrongly condemned man calmly and decisively walking to the executioner’s block with his head held high, maintaining his dignity in the face of injustice. Each step brings him closer to death, but each step is also his own action, taken by his own feet and in defiance of the condemnation he is under. The onlookers observe his defiance and his dignity. His action is a testament that death is not final. That is the difference between a secular stoicism and bravely acting in defiance of our fears and hopelessness. For the stoic, though they can choose to face death bravely, death is the final word. For the Christian, death has been conquered, so we can face it bravely regardless of our fears. We can take a step to the block, confident in our hope.