"You know, people think dying is some big bad thing. I disagree," Vetris said. Laughter and pain, struggle and perseverance are familiar; death is the ultimate Unfamiliar. But like it or not, we are all dying. Death is a process, the experts say, that begins with our arrival on earth and moves right along until our departure. We can accelerate the process by smoking cigarettes, by eating or drinking unwisely or subjecting our bodies to an assortment of other physiological abuses; we can perhaps slow it down by taking vitamins or practicing tai chi. But we can't reverse the course. Sooner or later, this is what we all do: we die. Maybe if we look it in the eye, as people like Vetris have shown us how to do, our own death won't be such a big bad thing.