to all other weary souls who feel that their strength is spent and struggle to maintain the life of joyful praise that they know they should possess. Most people dread the thought of growing old, like the eighteen-year-old to whom Derek Thomas asked, “What do you think about growing old?” The youth answered, “I hope to die before then.”2 That answer may overstate the difficulties of old age, but it accurately gauges our society’s view of the elderly. In a culture where pleasure,