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O Death

 


The first famous death I remember was President Kennedy. The president’s death was shocking and it is etched in my brain forever, but before he died, I hardly knew President Kennedy. I knew the name, and knew he was the leader of our country, but when you are four years-old, you hardly pay attention to such people. You certainly don’t know anything about policy or politics. I may have heard him speak on the news a few times. So, it was shocking, but I didn’t really know him.

The first death that really touched me was the death of Walt Disney. Walt Disney I knew. I saw him every Sunday night on TV as he introduced the Wonderful World of Color, which after his death would be changed to The Wonderful World of Disney. I had been to Disneyland, the most fun place on Earth and it had his name on it! As young as I was, I had seen many of his movies. For such a person to die, to be no more, was a blow to my eight-year-old self. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it must be wrong. Surely, somebody got it wrong.

Later, I had the same feeling when I learned that Judy Garland had died. I only knew her from the Wizard of Oz, but that was enough, being one of my favorite movies at the time. My mother had to tell me that Judy was not a little girl anymore. It was more shocking to learn that she had died of a drug overdose. My mother told me that she had not had the happiest of life. I couldn’t understand it.

The older you get, the more acquainted you become with death. After a while, it is not just people on the news that die, but people you actually know: classmates, friends, family. I started asking questions about death from a very early age. My mom tried her best to answer my questions but she didn’t have all the answers and she didn’t lie to me to make me think she did. I became a philosopher at a very young age. Death is, after all, that undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns. Yes, Shakespeare loved to talk about death. It is one of his recurring themes.

It is strange that in literature, Death has often been personified. He is (usually it is a “he”) sometimes creepy, sometimes mean, but sometimes just an ordinary Joe. Sometimes he is a stand-in for the Devil -- someone to wager against, to gain a few more years. And sometimes he is downright funny (see terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I mean, that Death is a hoot!) We have a complicated relationship with death. Perhaps it is our coping mechanism. It is the one thing we all have in common.

Now excuse me. I am going to go read some Terry Pratchett.

Star Liner

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