“And to you, little one,” he said, “I give the gift of finality. And to you, who are the least of my creations, I give the gift of never knowing it is so.”

All the contemporary triumphalism about choices and decisions simply represses the deep sadness of being trapped in a world of constrained options and limited resources. It is a self-imposed existential dishonesty, tarted up in consumer culture optimism, hiding the grim realities of the consequences of our actions in the bright store lights of a grocery aisle mentality.