A few thoughts on death
Sep. 10th, 2003 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusFirst, my own: I mentioned to someone a while back that I didn't fear death. I looked forward to it. They were, predictably I suppose, much to horrified to hear the explanation (I don't do well when I have to talk in sound bites).
I look forward to my death the same way I look forward to finishing a good novel I'm reading. It's not that I want it to end soon, but I am interested in seeing what happens. I wanna know how it all turns out. At the same time, I want it to last as long as possible. And, of course, I want the whole thing to be interesting, all the way through.
Of course, making some kind of sense would be nice, too, but, though good for a novel, is probably too much to ask for in a life.
About other people's death:
I don't always see death as a great tragedy. Nor do I even feel bad about all deaths. Take Strom Thurmond, for instance. Now, a lot of people think it would have been better if he'd died earlier, but I think he lived just long enough. He was an evil man who spent his whole life fighting against the American ideal of equality under the law. First women got the right to vote, then blacks were given equal rights, and finally, three hours before he died, the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. I like to think that he heard about the verdict just before he died. The fuckhead deserved it, and I'm not gonna say he was a nice guy just because he finally died.
Lastly, there was the guy who killed himself on I-5 in front of us a few days ago. The official reports say he was driving "much, much over the speed limit" when he crashed. He rear-ended a Jeep Grand Cherokee, crushing its back-end up to the back seat, before bouncing off the road, rolling over a few times, going through a power line, and closing I-5 for an hour and restricting it to 1 lane for three more (during two of which we were sitting in the van.) Yeah, he died in the accident. I saw the car, and the Jeep he hit, and from the damage to the Jeep, he had to be going at least 60 miles an hour relative to it. Which would put him at 120 if the Jeep was doing 60. (The speed limit there is 70, I believe). Do I mourn the guy? I don't even feel sad for him. He was an asshole, weaving at over 100 mph in traffic, endangering the lives of everybody on the road for the sake of his own ego, and I'm glad he's off of it now without taking anybody else with him.
Now, some people, yeah, their deaths will be a tragedy. I've lost a few friends way before their time, starting with my only friend, Beth, in first grade. Her death was a tragedy, she was a very intelligent person, in advanced classes even then, with a lot of potential, and she died of leukemia, which is largely survivable today.
Anyway, that's enough about death for now. I'm gonna go get ready for bed. Goodnight.
I look forward to my death the same way I look forward to finishing a good novel I'm reading. It's not that I want it to end soon, but I am interested in seeing what happens. I wanna know how it all turns out. At the same time, I want it to last as long as possible. And, of course, I want the whole thing to be interesting, all the way through.
Of course, making some kind of sense would be nice, too, but, though good for a novel, is probably too much to ask for in a life.
About other people's death:
I don't always see death as a great tragedy. Nor do I even feel bad about all deaths. Take Strom Thurmond, for instance. Now, a lot of people think it would have been better if he'd died earlier, but I think he lived just long enough. He was an evil man who spent his whole life fighting against the American ideal of equality under the law. First women got the right to vote, then blacks were given equal rights, and finally, three hours before he died, the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. I like to think that he heard about the verdict just before he died. The fuckhead deserved it, and I'm not gonna say he was a nice guy just because he finally died.
Lastly, there was the guy who killed himself on I-5 in front of us a few days ago. The official reports say he was driving "much, much over the speed limit" when he crashed. He rear-ended a Jeep Grand Cherokee, crushing its back-end up to the back seat, before bouncing off the road, rolling over a few times, going through a power line, and closing I-5 for an hour and restricting it to 1 lane for three more (during two of which we were sitting in the van.) Yeah, he died in the accident. I saw the car, and the Jeep he hit, and from the damage to the Jeep, he had to be going at least 60 miles an hour relative to it. Which would put him at 120 if the Jeep was doing 60. (The speed limit there is 70, I believe). Do I mourn the guy? I don't even feel sad for him. He was an asshole, weaving at over 100 mph in traffic, endangering the lives of everybody on the road for the sake of his own ego, and I'm glad he's off of it now without taking anybody else with him.
Now, some people, yeah, their deaths will be a tragedy. I've lost a few friends way before their time, starting with my only friend, Beth, in first grade. Her death was a tragedy, she was a very intelligent person, in advanced classes even then, with a lot of potential, and she died of leukemia, which is largely survivable today.
Anyway, that's enough about death for now. I'm gonna go get ready for bed. Goodnight.
