‘We are basket cases of ingratitude, so many of us.” That’s one of my favorite lines from a 1988 speech delivered by William F. Buckley Jr., from whom we sure could use some refresher courses right now.
I happen to have this quote printed on the door of my office. There, I read a recent essay by Charles Murray on assisted suicide in which the political scientist confesses to having had a change of heart on the matter. (He used to be a supporter.) “‘The gift of life’ is a cliché that has become real to me,” he writes in Compact. “Life is indeed a precious gift, and gratitude for that gift carries with it an obligation to cherish it. Suicide is ingratitude. It is a sin against God.”
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