But when I think of the cost, what I see are the faces of our soldiers. Go here, to the Times' obituaries for California's war dead and read their stories.
You know, the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: did he have passion?
There's good evidence that Ernest Hemingway liked to read his premature obituaries over a drink.
Look at the Steve Jobs obituaries.
And so, too, thinks the obituaries editor—pockets heavy with collecting—has even the smallest and most overlooked human life.
Ann Wroe is the obituaries editor of the Economist and author of "Orpheus: the Song of Life" and "Being Shelley: the Poet's Search for Himself".
A newspaper website in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for example, discovered that its obituaries were particularly popular among older readers who had moved away.