Tag Archives: mortality

The Benefit of Almost Dying

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Bob Ritzema

Within the course of a couple days I had conversations with two people who had nearly died recently. Each of them was hospitalized in critical condition, and in each case family members were summoned because the patient was more likely … Continue reading →

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Is Midlife a Time of Calm or of Turmoil?

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I ran across an interesting quote on middle age by George Eliot. She wrote: “The middle aged, who have lived through their strongest emotions, but are yet in the time when memory is still half passionate and not merely contemplative, … Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday: You’re Gonna Die

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I’m writing this a few days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar. Most Ash Wednesday services give participants the opportunity to have ashes–a symbol of mortality–rubbed on their foreheads. The presiding minister says something like “Remember … Continue reading →

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