Too Many, Too Young

In the past few years I have attended far too may funerals for people who have died before their time, at least in my way of thinking. The latest was yesterday which was a funeral for the thirty-six year old son of a woman, BJ, with whom I used to work. Michael was, for all anyone knew, in great health. He was an avid kayaker, an archer, fisherman and a lover of the outdoors. Apparently he was in good physical shape, but he was felled by what was probably a brain aneurism. It came out of nowhere, suddenly, and, of course, the family was devastated. When someone "old" passes on, you figure that they lived their life and that's what happens eventually. I don't know anymore what the qualification for "old" is, but a number of the people for whom I have found myself offering condolences are younger than I. I don't think of myself as old, except when it leads to a discount, but certainly someone thirty-six or someone in their fifties is not old. All of the people to whom I refer were active, health conscious and did what they were told we are supposed to do in terms of exercise, eating, etc. Does this mean that I shouldn't worry about healthy living because, no matter what I do, something can come out of the sky and get me? I think that it tells me that I should only renew and intensify my efforts at healthy living. Some things you just can't do anything about, but you can at least minimize the risk factors. I feel bad for BJ, her husband Mike and their family, but they will survive. I saw that they had a lot of support and as BJ said, she wanted not to mourn his passing, but to celebrate his life.