What we often don’t realize, until we are confronting our own mortality, either through personal experience or the experiences of our patients, is that the life of a “human being” is temporary, finite, and ends. Therefore the creation of a human life is, by definition, the creation of a life that requires us to develop a relationship and attitude toward death as we create the attitudes and relationships that make life worth living and meaningful. Thus death must also become meaningful, significant, and purposeful. The thing with wisdom, and often with life lessons in general, is that they’re learned in retrospect, long after we needed them. The good news is that other people can benefit from our experiences and the lessons we’ve learned. The fight we’re having, the job we didn’t get, the real or imagined slight, the unexpected need to shift course, the thing we wanted, but didn’t get. Most of it won’t matter 20, 30, 40 years from now.