In mid-August I received a weekend call of the sort we all pretend will never come, and by the following Monday night was on a plane headed for the midwest. Ruby, my grandmother, responsible for so much of what makes me a decent human being, was in hospital with pancreatic cancer.

I was at her bedside each day with my grandfather and other family members: watching her breathe, listening for the occasional slips of recognition and coherence between the drugs and dementia. I kept returning to thoughts of her past life and how, for each and every one of us, it all comes to these few final moments here upon this mortal coil.

I am enraged.

We let life slip away, pointlessly. It's as if because "we all know" it will eventually come to this, we stop short of what we could be and collectively fulfill the prophecy. My grandfather carried the photo above through the entirety of WWII, yet soon it and his memories will be all that remain. We could create a paradise of immortals, filled with humans vibrant and alive as my grandmother was then, if only we'd straighten our priorities.

This is not simple idealism. It's absolutely possible if enough of us want it together.

Here's what I want:

Let's honestly assess the morass of religion for what it is: superstition and social control. Remove the cross and we can see beyond the torture instrument to human self-determination. Let's accept ourselves for what we are and take responsibility for life and death. Imagine a populace placing life above all other considerations, including nationality, skin color, gender, sexual preference and, especially, money. Let's get on with being human and doing what humans do best: create.

Let's start with creating ourselves. If we pour as much effort and budgetary priority into medical science, bio-tech and saving lives as we do into killing and destroying for profit, imagine the diseases we would never worry about again. Imagine living a life knowing cancer and Alzheimer's were maladies of history. Imagine cures for heart disease, HIV, hepatitis C, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis. The list goes on and on. We have minds capable of cracking them all.

Imagine living a life as long as you want it to be. Imagine being in the driver's seat without anything else, especially old age, dictating how it was going to be lived. Imagine not having to figure out what you want to do with your lucky 80-odd years, only what you want to do next. Don't roll your eyes, wag your finger and say "It will never happen." Look around you... look at all of our human triumphs and advances, each one preceded by the same wagging finger.

It will happen.

The question is: "When?"

It's too late for my well-loved grandmother, but we may yet attain it. We're able to return to the primordial Garden. We may be unlost. The wandering may come to an end.

Imagine a national budget in which defense spending is only a small fraction compared to education, medicine and science.

Doesn't wanting that sound like a better idea than wanting what we have right now?