The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. He forgot to say, with every death it ends. Or did not think he needed to. Because for a goodly part of his life he worked in a graveyard.
Interpretation
Life is cyclic; every new birth signifies a new beginning, while each death signifies an ending.
This quote reflects on the cyclical nature of life, emphasizing that every birth represents the start of a new journey, while every death symbolizes the conclusion of another. The author's father's perspective, shaped by his experiences in a graveyard, suggests that he recognized the profound interconnection between life and death, yet perhaps chose to focus solely on the beauty of new beginnings without pondering the inevitability of endings.
In practice
In a eulogy, this quote can remind attendees of the cyclical nature of life.
It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and wonderful, to those sad black names on withering family trees, with half a date dangling after and a question mark.
What is the sound of an eighty-nine-year-old heart breaking?
I wanted to be of service to the Peace League, and how could I better do so than by trying to write a book which should propagate its ideas? And I could do it most effectively, I thought, in the form of a story.
Climbing is not a competition, and you cannot talk in terms of 'greatest,' it means nothing.
Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.
The more I think about myself, the more I'm persuaded that, as a person, I really don't exist. That is one of the reasons why I can't believe in any orthodox religion: I cannot believe in my own soul. No, I am a chemical compound, conditioned by environment and education. My "character" is simply a repertoire of acquired tricks, my conversation a repertoire of adaptations and echoes, my "feelings" are dictated by purely physical, external stimuli.
Esteem must be founded on some sort of preference. Bestow it on everybody and it ceases to have any meaning at all.
Justified or not, the Supreme Court has a kind of sacred status in American life. For whatever reason, Presidents can safely run against Congress, and vice versa, but I think there is an inherent popular aversion to assaults on the court itself. Perhaps it has to do with an instinctive belief that life needs umpires.
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