The Noble Sacrifice: Mortality and what it means to be human

The consciousness of death and our capacity for sacrificing our lives sets us apart as a species

Last week, while driving from Northern Lombardy to Brussels, my wife and I stayed overnight in a small town called St Avold in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Today, it is renowned for the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, which covers 113.5 acres and contains 10,481 graves – the largest American military graves of Wo…