Did you read the newspaper article about a Social Security office checking up on a recipient?  It was in Vallejo, California, and the Social Security people sent this letter:

 “We want to talk to you about a notification letter in our office that you are deceased.  Please let us know if you are.”

Senator William Proxmire ridiculed the Social Security Administration bureaucracy, calling the letter “a grave message.”  He said in a statement that the officials might be in for “quite a conversation.  Think of the possibilities.  For example, if they ask you to call and you are alive, how will they know you’re telling the truth?  If the individual is deceased, I can assure you that the confirmation call will be a doozy.”

Now all of that is funny and makes somebody look ridiculous.  But it raises a serious question:  how do we and others know when we are dead and when we are alive?

What about what we love?

How we spend our time?

How much we give and to whom?

The content of our conversation?

I’m thinking about it -- am I dead or alive?   What about you?