Memento mori, memento vivere

One of the translations of the title phrase is “Keep death always before you so that you remember to live.” It brings to mind my favorite William Wallace line, “All men die, not all men really live.” In fact, many, many writers have encouraged being mindful of the brevity of life in some way, which by definition must include the finality of it. The recent Ash Wednesday is a Catholic observation of the reality of death, “Remember man that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) I remember that as a young Mom the scariest thing...