![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S9df8J87UjI\/AAAAAAAABWM\/EnA6fStVJBs\/s1600\/DONNE25.JPG\")
<\/a>I interviewed a devoutly Catholic man yesterday for non-Catholic reasons. He told me that for people like him and me, both nearer 60 than 50, each day boils down to \u201ca choice between Dunkirk and the Alamo.\u201d When you get into a situation, there are two outcomes: You get your boats off the beach and live to fight another day, as at Dunkirk; or you make your last stand, as at the Alamo. Meaning, we\u2019re getting near the end of the line, and now it\u2019s only a question of, How long?<\/a>
Then he said, \u201cOf course, we Catholics know that there is a final destination, and that makes all the difference,\u201d or words to that effect. (He said all of this with much saltier language. I have never met a Catholic more at home with profanity.)<\/p>\n
All of this made me think of the line \u201cDeath be not proud,\u201d which I first encountered as the title of a memoir by John Gunther about his son\u2019s early death from, I think it was, a brain tumor. We read the book in 7th grade, or maybe 8th, and it made an impression.<\/p>\n
Where does the line come from? My sister Elizabeth, the English scholar in the family, would know, because it comes from her favorite poet, John Donne (pictured). Here is Donne\u2019s Holy Sonnet #10. It\u2019s worth a second reading for any Catholic.<\/p>\n
Death be not proud, though some have called thee<\/i> I interviewed a devoutly Catholic man yesterday for non-Catholic reasons. He told me that for people like him and me, both nearer 60 than 50, each day boils down to \u201ca choice between Dunkirk and the Alamo.\u201d When you get into a situation, there are two outcomes: You get your boats off the beach and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,<\/i>
For, those, whom thou thinks\u2019t, thou dost overthrow,<\/i>
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.<\/i>
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,<\/i>
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,<\/i>
And soonest our best men with thee do go,<\/i>
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.<\/i>
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,<\/i>
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,<\/i>
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,<\/i>
And better then thy stroake; why swell\u2019st thou then;<\/i>
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,<\/i>
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.<\/i><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/6738513599344023043-5914627371754238082?l=yimcatholic.blogspot.com\")