A friend of mine died the other day. The last time I saw him was in December. We bumped into each other at an art exhibition in town—an annual event for children in need we once organized together—and he pulled me aside and said, “Adam, I have cancer. But I’m not ready to die.” This man—he was Japanese and spoke no English—was not only a good partner for the benefit work we began, he was a genuinely good man. He