Where's Gandalf when you need him?

My FIL is becoming more and more emotional. He cries a lot. I guess it seems like a lot because I am the one home with him the most. He's always been what is now called dramatic, which to me sounds theatrical and staged, needing attention. I would say he's always been more like … highly charged. Like the running of the bulls. An attention seeker, but in an unpredictable, illogical, intense way. He's not charged anymore. He is also weakening, becoming very thin. It is strange watching this happen. Watching someone change so quickly. This morning, he cried as he and I were eating breakfast. He said that he must have not been a good person all his life since God gave him cancer. He wondered out loud what he did wrong. As much as I wanted to, I did not respond. People think what they think in the grips of desperation without regard for logic. I told him that his situation is very hard because he knows his fate.  He is consumed by his disease. I may die tomorrow, I said, but I don't know that and don't think about it. I asked him again, is there anything that would make him feel better about the here and now? Seeing friends? He said friends only want to see you when you are well and good, not when you are sick. I again could not respond. I had no wisdom to impart. We ate in silence for a while. I thought about how my mom always says  "things have a way of working themselves out." Not something someone so hopeless wants to hear. It sort of falls into the category of "things could be worse" … to which I always think "yes, and they could be a lot better." Things working themselves out goes by another name … fate.  I don't think any words right now could be of much comfort to him.  He didn't see this coming. He feels defeated, knows how his story will end. No one can predict what tomorrow brings. I hold on to hope. The best stories have twists and turns and are filled with the unexpected, both good and ill. You cannot close the book when the story turns bad. "... even the very wise cannot see all ends." In hindsight, I should have used that moment to tell him he is loved. I hope not to miss the next opportunity. And if he again questions his fate, maybe next time I will tell him, keep reading.