a radio was on.

Borrowing from Alain de Botton in today's New York Times, who was borrowing from Camus. Camus knew that when it came to historical progress, to the theory of forward progress and modernity, there is no escape from vulnerability, which is to say, death.  "Plague or no plague, there is always, as it were, the plague, if what we mean by that is a susceptibility to sudden death, an event that can render our lives instantaneously meaningless."  [We'll return to the idea of death rendering our lives instantaneously meaningless.] De Botton says this is what Camus meant when he talked about the "absurdity" of life.  That recognizing this absurdity should not lead to despair.  Instead, the recognition that death comes for each of us (usually uninvited) should lead "to a tragicomic redemption, a softening of the heart, a turning away from judgment and moralizing to joy and gratitude." This idea of joy and gratitude in the face of death and dying is a second-

Borrowing from Alain de Botton in today's New York Times, who was borrowing from Camus. Camus knew that when it came to historical progress, to the theory of forward progress and modernity, there is no escape from vulnerability, which is to say, death.  "Plague or no plague, there is always, as it were, the plague, if what we mean by that is a susceptibility to sudden death, an event that can render our lives instantaneously meaningless."  [We'll return to the idea of death rendering our lives instantaneously meaningless.] De Botton says this is what Camus meant when he talked about the "absurdity" of life.  That recognizing this absurdity should not lead to despair.  Instead, the recognition that death comes for each of us (usually uninvited) should lead "to a tragicomic redemption, a softening of the heart, a turning away from judgment and moralizing to joy and gratitude." This idea of joy and gratitude in the face of death and dying is a s