Life insurance is a bet, between you and the insurance company, whether or not you'll die while the policy is in force. The "odds" are the premium you pay in, vs. the death benefit - and the odds will always favor the house. Gerber is an extremely expensive, low value life insurance policy.
It's crap, and you probably need to "shop out" if you really want life insurance on yourself. But if you think your mom is going to be able to buy insurance and pay the same as a healthy 20 year old - your idea of "reasonable" is unreasonable.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.