Well it was either this, or some Chemistry homework, and due to my sensational ability to procrastinate, here I sit, more tired than the man lucky enough to be rooting Misa Campo.
A new thought has just crossed my head, and now you fellow readers shall be accompanied by song of choice currently playing in my head as you read. That was a pretty piss poor sentence, and, most likely, the rest of this post will be grammatically appalling as well, so my apologies in advance.
Oceanlab - If I Could Fly | Music Upload
Now, in my leisure reading, I came across a pretty damn interesting article, regarding death and its timing. From what I can gather, a "good death" and "dying well" is all a matter of luck. This luck is dependant, on two variables: Timing and Cause of death.
Two examples of timing are given: Mother Teresa and Sergei Prokofiev.
Krauthammer asks, 'does anyone remember when Mother Teresa died? The greatest saint of our time died on the frenzied eve of the funeral of the greatest diva of our time, Princess Di. Krauthammer further illustrates this theory with the sad example of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. "tormented in life by Stalin, his patron and jailer," notes Krauthammer, "Prokofiev had the extraordinary bad luck of dying on the same day as the great man." Because all of Moscow's musicians and flowers were reserved for Stalin's massive state funeral, Prokofiev's interment was accompanied by paper flowers and tape-recorded music, and news of the composer's passing was relegated to the margins of Soviet media, which eulogized Comrade Stalin for weeks. Prokofiev's ill-timed departure esconced the composer "forever in the tyrant's shadow".
However, this only covers the when of the matter, and Krauthammer continues with the how.
In the interesting category of deaths that seemingly 'undo' or 'steal' an individual's life, Krauthammer cites the notorious 1964 death of 28-year-old Catherine 'Kitty' Genovese. On March 13 of that year she was stabbed repeatedly outside her New York apartment building. The most frightening aspect of the story is that while a number of her neighbors later admitted to hearing the repeated cries for help, none immediately came to her aid. Kitty bled to death in the stairwell of her apartment.
As Krauthammer points out, Kitty Genovese's name soon became "a metaphor for urban alienation" and her senseless death "an indictment of the pitiless American city." Krauthammer goes on to characterize the murder of Ms. Genovese as a 'double injustice' and a 'double death'. Writing of Genovese's killer, Krauthammer notes:
"He - a stranger, an intruder - gave her a perverse immortality of a kind she never sought, never expected, never consented to. She surely thought that in her 28 years she had been building a life of joys and loves, struggle and achievement, friendship and fellowship. That and everything else she build her life into were simply swallowed up by the notoriety of her death, a notoriety unchosen and unbidden."
It is then only fitting that Krauthammer believes that the biggest moral monster of our time is the suicide bomber, who chooses the time and place, and even the blood soaked story that accompanies the death.
For Krauthammer, suicide bombers - "self-creation through the annihilation of others" - represents "the ultimate perversion of the good death".
-Source: Philosophy Now: Issue 76.
This has the potential to bring up many questions in what is being studied at the moment in Philosophy, that is: The Good Life. So to anyone who actually is reading this, please have a think over it, it's well worth it.
Another article I feel cannot be ignored, simply for its intrinsic value, must be posted as well, however, I'm sure the song by now is nearly over, and I'm even more tired now, so I'm afraid the rest will have to wait until Sunday, or Monday [Labor Day Holiday].
Until then, farewell fellow readers.
Also, good to see I'm getting a decent response from the hit counter I put up there, if I feel it needs to be removed, I shall remove it, otherwise it shall stay there.
I'm also thinking of installing in a chat box, if you feel this would be a good idea, hit me up on MSN and I'll consider it.
On a final note, I've been lucky enough to have the epiphany that any great revelation or idea must have the substance to back it up. I will be honest now readers, I have written a lot in my black book that doesn't go on here, simply because the ideas are still eggs, left un discussed, and haven't been properly developed, a mistake which I will ensure doesn't happen again.
That's all I needed to say, thank you for indulging me yet again.
EDIT: My Bloody Beetroots mask came in yesterday, I'm pretty damn ecstatic about it.
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