Some absolutely do. Of course they are sad, and afraid, but they’re lucid about what’s happening. They make their affairs in order and they say their goodbyes.

Some absolutely do. Of course they are sad, and afraid, but they’re lucid about what’s happening. They make their affairs in order and they say their goodbyes. And they die with dignity. I’ve seen it up close, and it’s impressive. For the longest time I thought it wasn’t possible. I’d read Simone de Beauvoir’s Une mort très douce, where she chronicles her mother’s death, and the conclusion is more or less that even with a live well fulfilled we all end up raging against the dying of the light (a reference to Dylan Thomas). It sounded very reasonable to me. But now I know it does not have to be like that.