Health care needs to be improved on many levels, from the financing and governance of national health care systems to the care we express when we interact with those who are sick or dying. D. G. Myers is a literary critic with late stage prostate cancer. Russ Roberts, one of the great interviewers of our day, speaks with Myers about
the importance of dealing with cancer honestly and using it as a way to focus attention on what matters in life.
I have great sympathy with Myers’ views on how to live with illness and how to interact with the dying. However, I don’t call this interview to your attention because I think that Myers or I have the answers on these matters. Rather, the interview is an example of how to conduct a thoughtful conversation about how our lives will end, how to live with that end in mind, and how to speak to someone who may be closer to the end than we are.
Bonus: Roberts offers good advice on writing:
the way to become a better writer is to become a better editor.
