There are those - soldiers and nurses, poets and priests - for whom death is a sure companion. But most of us treat it as a notorious celebrity we watch from afar, fascinated but removed, until we have no choice, preferring myth to truth. Ten million people watched Professor Randy Pausch's Last Lecture on YouTube;see the shining, dying man; and quietly promise themselves to shift out of neutral, stop being stupid about stupid things. Celebrate Memorial Day as a day when gratitude comes to life.
(Nancy Gibbs, Senior Editor, Time Magazine, paraphrased)