PATHS OF GLORY One of my favorite poems of all time is Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, better known as “Gray’s Elegy”. The lines I like and have memorized go as such: The boast of Heraldry, the pomp of Power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave Awaits alike the inevitable hour, The Paths of Glory lead but to the grave. In case you haven’t heard of the common phrase (and title of one of the late Stanley Kubrick’s movies) “Paths of Glory”, that’s where it comes from. One of the most loved phrases of our popular culture, and that line one of the most beloved in all poetry. Why do I love that line so much? Have you ever found how beautiful it is to wake up? To many of us waking up is an ability we take for granted. We wake and we grumble about how miserable everything is, sure everything may be miserable as Hell.   But there are people who don’t even have that privilege.   Many of them are people who could still be waking up, and deserve to be waking up more than a lot of us do. The late Princess of Wales, Sylvia Plath, John F Kennedy Jr, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette, Paul Monette, the list goes on. In Singapore we’ve lately been mourning victims of the SQ 006 place crash. Three years ago there was a mid-air explosion with SilkAir flight MI 185, on that flight was a bright young lady named Bonny Hicks who once had helped open up Singapore with her frank coming-of-age memoirs. They’re no longer here, and we all miss them. Many of them could be waking up had their lives not been cut short by tragedy. But they haven’t. Talent, looks and charm haven’t saved them from death. These things may buy you glory, wealth and privilege on Earth, but they cannot buy you an extra year of life. I read one of my dad’s self-management books lately. I’m reminded that some don’t even have the chance to tread on the Paths of Glory before going