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It's an expression you can take one of two ways.  Someone will describe his partner as 'my reason for living', and you know it's meant with a dash of humour.  But sometimes the phrase is used desperately, by someone honestly trying to come up with a literal reason to live. The phrase figures prominently on websites about suicide.

Ray Robertson is a Toronto novelist who went through a serious depression, and found himself asking the question: Why Not? As in, Why Not end it all??

When he got better, Ray decided he was going to flip the question on its head.  Why Not - as in Why Not keep living?  And, writer that he is, Robertson came up with 15 things that make life worth living. He wrapped them all up in a book: Why Not - 15 Reasons To Live.
Ray Robertson joins Mary Hynes this week on Tapestry.

We'll also hear from the late Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple; from stroke victim and brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor, from Hassan Ghedi Santur on his passion for the Gustav Klimt painting, The Kiss. And we'll also hear a moving documentary about Jarrod Livingstone from Regina, not a famous guy, just someone who keeps on going, thumbing his nose at every fatal diagnosis the medical world can dish out.

Jarrod Livingstone, whose fierce will to live is featured in the documentary, The Secret, relaxes before a Rider game at Taylor Field in Regina.