Learning How to Die

Chicago Police officer Mark Banks was out for a run this past spring when he felt strangely short of breath. Banks, a lieutenant at the Chicago Police Academy and a major in the National Guard, knew something was wrong.

A few weeks later, doctors told Banks--recently returned from Iraq--he had less than a year.

So, as the Chicago Tribune reports, Banks decided to give one last lesson--a lesson in how to die. He's been hosting weekly barbecues and get-togethers with 2 rules:

Everyone brings food, and nobody cries.

Here's Banks on why he's facing death in this way:

Some people emotionally die before they die. Some people pull the shades and live in isolation. We're not going to do that," Banks said later. "My approach to this is I'm still teaching my friends, my colleagues and my family. Everybody's going to die--and this is how you do it."