First-Person: The 'dash' & the brevity of life

When my son, Art Rainer, began work on the book we co-authored, "Simple Life," he spent a good bit of time in a cemetery.

That's right. A cemetery.

He found a cemetery near his home in Boca Raton, Fla., and simply walked from grave marker to grave marker. Listen to his simple explanation for this strange type of research:

"I came to this cemetery to gain perspective. I could not think of a more inspirational location than to be surrounded by those whose earthly story had come to an end. If they could, what would they tell us? Now that their lives are over, what wisdom would they want to pass on? What were their regrets? Where did they get it right? Though the sands of time in my life's hourglass are still running for me, with every breath I breathe, I am moving toward my physical closure.

"My body will become like theirs.

"On each grave marker is a dash between two years. The dash is time, and that is where we are, in our dash. And before there is some year placed on the other end, we need to figure this thing out."

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