After a few years of caring for patients, death ceases to perturb us. I don't mean we are heartless, but that on most days, we help our dying patients without getting distraught...Then there are days we realize we are after all human and can't help but feel. Yesterday was one of those days. My patients were dying despite desperate and heroic efforts. Should I give up or try harder? It is never an easy decision, as hope lingers, like the smoldering embers of a dying flame..., that if I try a little harder I can cheat death and give them just a little more time to say their good byes, or fulfill one last dying wish, but I couldn't ...I helplessly watched a loving mother struggle to smile at her daughter, before her last breath; A son desperately clutch his fathers hands as he slowly slipped into a coma; A husband watch his wife listless and lifeless on a ventilator, with tears silently trickling down his cheeks. These moments had the sad and certain inevitableness of a gloomy sunset leading to the pitch darkness of a night...I can look at these moments and see death, suffering and helplessness in the face of mortality, but I can also look at those moments and see love, hope and courage in the face of adversity. I can chose to feel sad and helpless or chose to embrace the inevitableness of these moments and admire the relentless dedication and undying love of a doting mother, a caring daughter, a loving son and a faithful husband. I can chose to be inspired by courage and hope that the families showed as their loved ones were dying... A hope that even after the darkest of nights the sun will rise. We can't always cheat death or destiny but we can certainly chose how we look at them.