Robert Nozick, somewhere, wondered why older people didn’t sacrifice more for the common good.  He meant, I think, being prepared for really heroic events involving likely death.  Their lives were nearing the end, so the opportunity cost of great sacrifice was perhaps low while the wisdom to choose a meaningful (as opposed to fruitless) act was high.  I wonder about this, at this stage of my life.  Makes me think of the Brecht line, “Unhappy the land that has no heroes; no, unhappy the land in need of heroes.”  In an era where battle and assassination are plainly no longer meaningful (thanks, Bradley Manning, for that), what would great sacrifice look like, at age 75?