Kenneth Zammit Tabona’s seasonal reflections (November 1) on the subject of death and the culture that surrounds it cannot but stir interest in an octogenarian, with half a century in professional work at his back, directed at saving life and delaying death.

There is too much that can be said but here is an occasion for making one or two points.

Violence and death in the western world today make great copy for the vast media industry that the remarkable technological advances in communication have made possible. So death in our world is often made a matter not so much for denial as for sanitising and dramatising. Witness the preference for dying in hospital as opposed to one’s home and also the state or showy funerals given to public figures and celebrities, including many of the fallen in far-flung wars.

Another notable change influencing our attitude to death is the demographic complexion of our age resulting from the advances in medicine. Longevity may be a blessing but, as with many things, it has brought with it a few problems. Modern life-supporting techniques can sometimes keep people alive for an unconscionable long time, often posing difficult bioethical problems. Hence the cult of euthanasia on the increase in some Western countries. A man is indeed happy when he can say with confidence: Nunc dimittis.

Death, like all departures, is certainly a sad event and the process of dying often not as dignified as many would think. But it is a natural and necessary event that makes life a continuum and a renewal. It should engender in us a greater respect for life while accepting life’s end with serenity. In my beginning is my end.