The past few weeks have been hard, I know, on a national level. OK, so the man wasn't Sir Anthony Hopkins, but while he was stooping to that lowest common denominator, he was doing so in the name of humor, and y'know, I can appreciate that. Maybe the world needs people to start dying. If you're strong in your faith or have no faith at all, the question's meaningless. Those armor-clad in indefatigable faith are content in knowing that rewards for all the good done on Earth come after death and that the material and physical world is irrelevant, only a test of faith.
Life sucks, get a helmet.
For those of us stuck in between, though, it's a hard question to ask, and even harder to answer. The conceit of it struck me, as stray thoughts often do, walking to campus. His support of the Third and Long program didn't hinge on the clause that, someday, his generosity would help him walk again. It was given freely, no strings attached, no markers to be called in later. Maybe part of it ties back to that whole idea that our benevolence on Earth is a key to rewards in the afterlife.