Creatures Of Habit

Students in a “Creative Writing” class were accustomed to receiving writing assignments which involved various aspects of their everyday living. Consequently, as the course drew to a close, their final assignment put them in a state of shock. “Write your own obituary,” the teacher said. Later, one of the students said that, for him, “The weirdest part of carrying out the assignment was choosing a date of death.” Another said: “Summarizing, in a few short paragraphs, who I was and what I did before I died was a growth experience.” Still another said, “It brought home to me, as never before, the one thing we all share in common: at the moment of birth we begin our journey toward death — we’re all dying!”

And so we are! All of us are dying!

Many years ago, a Eugene O’Neil play called “Lazarus Laughed” was produced on the Broadway stage. The play was based on the New Testament episode in which a friend of…