To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

William Shakespeare, Hamlet. 

As I write this piece I am conscious of my dependence on others.  There is of course an economic dependency - others produced the computer on which I write, and also the chair on which I sit - but my dependency is emotional as well as physical. We are socially and culturally connected.  In the words of John Donne, No man is an island.  I am who I am because of others and in relation to others.

The capacity to make informed choices about our lives is often taken for granted, but there are ma...

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