Aaron Jamison is selling ad space on two cremation urns that will go to his wife and parents when he dies. This sounds morbid and crass until you realize that Aaron, who is 37 and lives in Oregon, is dying from terminal colon cancer. If his new chemo treatment works, "I've got about nine months," he says. "If it doesn't work, I've got three." Knowing that, this gesture comes off as heartbreakingly poignant, even more so since he wants the money so his soon-to-be widow can be debt-free. He plans to hand-paint the ads and hopes to raise $800. Aaron's complex pairing of stoicism and jovial acceptance is so remarkable that a quippy response would insult it. But another point needs to be made: There's something very wrong with the world when someone has to find sponsors for their own death so the expenses won't bankrupt those they leave behind.

—Posted by David Kiefaber