'Til Death Do It's Part

I love reading the "Recent Deaths" pannel on the Wikipedia Current Events page. I imagine its somewhat akin to reading the obituaries in the paper, though it's only for famous people. Or rather, who Wikipedia deems famous enough. I don't think im fascinated by death, but I'm definitely interested. I especially like finding out about how they died. I always check right away to see if it was of natural causes, or something extra-curricular. The young deaths are almost always something outside the berth of natural occurrence, and usually involve either some kind of accident, or is a result of ones own doing. I especially do not like to see people under 60 dying of things like heart attacks or cancer, because for some reason I immediately compare that to myself. Like somehow the longevity of others will increase my own. 

I often joke about how I'm going to "die young" or "leave a handsome corpse." Maybe somewhere down inside it makes it easier to accept the fact that it could actually happen. Shit, it could happen to any of us at any time, and I know people toss that idea around empty handed, but once in a while we're reminded of how real it is. Once in a while someone we know, or more unfortunately, someone we're close to passes away prematurely. That's a swift kick to the gut like no other. Kim and my mother especially do not like when I talk that way about myself. Both of them have it in their heads that I'm going to outlive expectations. At the end of the day, I believe it all comes down to genes. Maybe that's the easy way out, or the simple explanation. It certainly frees you up from any responsibility. "Why eat right? I'm just going to die young anyway, like my grandfather." Now I'm not that whacky, I absolutely believe in a middle ground, but there's no getting around the fact that your genes can certainly predict what some likely outcomes might be for your mortality. 

Now, I don't necessarily think a preoccupation with death is morbid. At least not mine. Yes, I always want to know right away how an individual died, but I also wind up reading a good deal about their life story as well. So in a sense, the "Recent Deaths" page becomes an awareness of life. 90% of the people I wind up reading about on there, I would never have known about had it not been for their passing. Don't get me wrong, I do my fair share of reading, but some of the people that get recognized on that site are obsolete at best! It's hard to say what the criteria is, if there even is any. There's Alderman, Scottish Dart's Champions, Poets, Inventors, Terrorists, Filmakers, the Tongan King, just to name a few. Interesting stories, no doubt. But why do they get credit for death? What did they do that was so noteworthy? Sometimes I'm really not sure, but that doesn't make their deaths any less interesting. 

So I figure, if you make the Death column on the Wikipedia Current Events page, then there's a chance your story will be read by a few knuckleheads like myself. Not bad really. Better than winding up in the obits of your local paper. Then again, depending who you are, it may just be better to pass on and into oblivion...