Barney & Clyde by Gene Weingarten; Dan Weingarten & David Clark for June 04, 2024

In a sense, we are all waiting for our last breath.

We’re subconsciously waiting while others may be hoping.

Being severely asthmatic all my life, believe me I think about breathing all the time.

And don’t forget to keep your heart beating.

I will try not to breathe

I can hold my head still with my hands at my knees

These eyes are the eyes of the old, shiver and fold

I will try not to breathe

This decision is mine

I have lived a full life

And these are the eyes that I want you to remember, oh

I need something to fly over my grave again

I need something to breathe

— R.E.M.

Wasn’t there a Greek myth of someone punished to this very fate, having to consciously think about all the bodily functions that happen automatically?

The last Polio patient in an iron lung just died. He was able to leave the machine if he consciously forced air into his lungs but could not do that for extended periods of course.

I have a machine that reminds me to breathe while I’m sleeping.

There’s a computer game in which the player has to control the character’s breathing in and out, blinking, each leg to walk, etc.