Research quote:
>> Naturally, she declined the medal and accompanying fame, as she didn't want to embarras us. She was willing to give up the record books for OUR happiness.
I'm laughing here... I think these two mothers compared notes! My mum could wring enough guilt out of a person that they'd be dehydrated for weeks. Red blood cells were replaced by painful guilt cells, and the only reason she was even alive was so she could be there in case we needed her because once we no longer needed her she had no real reason to live, and she only told us this so we'd know just how much she loved us.
AV quote:
>>we do need to vindicate our existence by, I don't know, some good works? It's not that some remote Paternal Deity requires it of us, but that we feel it in our bones that we ought to do something with our lives; discover penicillin, raise children, create jobs, just be nice to people.
But maybe we feel the same at the end of it all. Given time, prior to death, we will indulge in regrets, but nearer to death does the achiever feel better for his achievements than the ne'er do well who has done nothing?
Do we die easier knowing we have done these things or is this merely what we hope is true? Is our need to do something with our lives a hedge against death, or is it a reluctant tribute to the possibility of a reward on the other side?