More talk about death
I was looking at the front page of wikipedia today when I noticed that there is a link to "Recent Deaths." I've never been one to peruse the Obituaries, but I thought the list of deaths on Wikipedia may be worth reading.
The people on the list were reduced to Name, Age, Nationality, Profession, small notable factoid and Method of death. What an impersonal way to describe an event that has such impact on the people around them. But logically, I know that you can't go into detail in a list like this. Obviously, each name links back to the person's wiki page so that you can get more detail about who they were.
Then I was struck by the variety of countries and ages represented and how this is really only a tiny fraction of the people lost during the month of March. Each name on this list represented a person, a family, a group of friends and colleagues who were feeling a deep sense of loss and pain. How would you feel if you knew more than one person on the list? Or the whole list? Or the whole REAL list of everyone who died during the course of ... ever? I imagined how Jehovah feels when he hears about the deaths that happen all over the world, each second. He knew each of them, intimately. I can't fathom it.
Anyway, I did learn a few things by reading the list of deaths in March:
It looks like someone is murdering Russian journalists - on the 21st someone shot a 58 year old TV journalist and someone (else?) strangled a 32 year old TV journalist. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
Foodies:
The man who founded Popeye's Chicken died of salivary gland cancer a few days ago. Doesn't that sound like the kind of thing you'd hear on SNL? Also, the man who invented Spaghetti-Os died earlier in the month.
Wiki keeps a list of the oldest verified living people. Third one on the list died this week. She was 114.
People we won't miss:
Three American Mass Murderers / Serial Killers died this week...of natural causes. I have pretty strong opinions on this one that I'll leave unsaid.
Royals / Nobility:
Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Castro (that's one man) and Al-Bandari bint Abdul Aziz Al Saud, sister of the King of Saudi Arabia. Also, Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, listed as a Spanish "noblewoman" and author.
Entertainment:
If you listen to NPR, you already knew about the death of Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" - the movie with the most unwatchable first 30 minutes of any movie ever made.
British actor, Paul Scofield, died of leukemia at 86. I recently watched his Oscar winning performance as Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons." Sorry, as much as I liked him, I didn't like the movie. I am right in the midst of reading all those books about Henry VIII, so I was able to figure out what was going on. If not for that, I would have been completely lost. Maybe I've blogged about this already. The only other thing I've seen him in was "The Crucible" - he played the last judge who came in to try Joan Allen and Daniel Day Lewis. Even though he was an old man in that movie, he had a voice and presence that stole all the attention away from a very attractive (though dirty) Daniel Day Lewis.
Business:
The owner of Ameriquest Mortgage died. Though that is a sad event, I was more intrigued to find out that he'd been serving as an Ambassador to the Netherlands since 2006. That's an odd mix.
Dick Durrell, the guy who founded People magazine, died at age 82.
The people on the list were reduced to Name, Age, Nationality, Profession, small notable factoid and Method of death. What an impersonal way to describe an event that has such impact on the people around them. But logically, I know that you can't go into detail in a list like this. Obviously, each name links back to the person's wiki page so that you can get more detail about who they were.
Then I was struck by the variety of countries and ages represented and how this is really only a tiny fraction of the people lost during the month of March. Each name on this list represented a person, a family, a group of friends and colleagues who were feeling a deep sense of loss and pain. How would you feel if you knew more than one person on the list? Or the whole list? Or the whole REAL list of everyone who died during the course of ... ever? I imagined how Jehovah feels when he hears about the deaths that happen all over the world, each second. He knew each of them, intimately. I can't fathom it.
Anyway, I did learn a few things by reading the list of deaths in March:
It looks like someone is murdering Russian journalists - on the 21st someone shot a 58 year old TV journalist and someone (else?) strangled a 32 year old TV journalist. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
Foodies:
The man who founded Popeye's Chicken died of salivary gland cancer a few days ago. Doesn't that sound like the kind of thing you'd hear on SNL? Also, the man who invented Spaghetti-Os died earlier in the month.
Wiki keeps a list of the oldest verified living people. Third one on the list died this week. She was 114.
People we won't miss:
Three American Mass Murderers / Serial Killers died this week...of natural causes. I have pretty strong opinions on this one that I'll leave unsaid.
Royals / Nobility:
Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Castro (that's one man) and Al-Bandari bint Abdul Aziz Al Saud, sister of the King of Saudi Arabia. Also, Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, listed as a Spanish "noblewoman" and author.
Entertainment:
If you listen to NPR, you already knew about the death of Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" - the movie with the most unwatchable first 30 minutes of any movie ever made.
British actor, Paul Scofield, died of leukemia at 86. I recently watched his Oscar winning performance as Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons." Sorry, as much as I liked him, I didn't like the movie. I am right in the midst of reading all those books about Henry VIII, so I was able to figure out what was going on. If not for that, I would have been completely lost. Maybe I've blogged about this already. The only other thing I've seen him in was "The Crucible" - he played the last judge who came in to try Joan Allen and Daniel Day Lewis. Even though he was an old man in that movie, he had a voice and presence that stole all the attention away from a very attractive (though dirty) Daniel Day Lewis.
Business:
The owner of Ameriquest Mortgage died. Though that is a sad event, I was more intrigued to find out that he'd been serving as an Ambassador to the Netherlands since 2006. That's an odd mix.
Dick Durrell, the guy who founded People magazine, died at age 82.
Music:
Corinne Bailey Rae's husband died of a suspected drug overdose. Sad. I like her voice.
The woman who wrote "Rain Rain Go Away" died at age 84.
Finally, the one that made me gasp, Jeff Healey. You remember him, the blind guy who played his guitar facing up on his lap, in his wheelchair...and sang with a gorgeous voice. His song "Angel Eyes" is still one of my all time favorite slow songs. That's still the only song I can name by him, but it was so good that I'm very sad to know that his music career is over.
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