July 13, 2008
Where Have All the Good Men Gone?
Tony Snow is dead. That fact makes me very sad. He was one of my favorite people in the media. I saw one of his last interviews a few months a go. The person interviewing him was talking up and positive. Tony went with it, but he had that tired, knowing look that I know well. I saw it in my father. Their body and face is thinner. Their hair is grayer. And the look of “why am i dying a 53″ is plastered all over their face. I knew Tony was going to die when I saw that interview. And I feel sorry for his family.
I don’t understand why it seems like so many people are dying young these days. Or maybe I am just more aware. It turns out that the two men that my father worked closely with when he was much younger (early 20s) have died. They were approximately the same age too. SWF (my dad) died of cancer, and the other two dropped dead of heart attacks. Literally. None of them would have been considered in poor health or likely to die. But they all did. Leaving wives and children behind. Tim Russert dropped dead too. That was disheartening as well.
My mother bought me the book Why Men Die First. There is some interesting info in it. But it is very dry and scientific. I guess, that is the point.
I was discussing some business things and the state of the world with E3 the other day and said that sometimes I wish I did not know everything I know or was not as aware. But then knowledge is power, right? Our main goals right now are making every day count and taking advantage of all opportunities presented to us. Because who knows what is going to happen to any of us.
Our main goals right now are making every day count and taking advantage of all opportunities presented to us. Because who knows what is going to happen to any of us.
Amen.
I’ve heard my father tell us how the men in his - my - family don’t live past 70. Both grandfathers died in their 60’s, as did my mother’s mom. My oldest grandmother died just before her 71st birthday. As for my father, he’s diabetic and in a high-stress job (bar owner), and is just not taking care of himself like a man of 66 needs to be. It just upsets my mother - she cannot do a thing to make him calm down, y’know? Upsets the rest of us, too. Not that it can always be helped, of course. But the way he runs himself into the ground. Damn, I just watch him and hope I don’t end up in the same boat. Sure, I’m taking care of myself better than any of the men in my family have before me (or the women, for that matter). But it’s like you said: you just cannot know what’s going to come.
Thank you for that post, Leslie. It’s really made me think about some things I needed to reflect on.
Time to (re)read “Everybody Was So Young.” I’m in the same boat, my father died 21 years ago at age 52, I had just turned 21. I was diagnosed with my first case of cancer four years later; the second time through was two years ago. I’m living very well and continue to think of how horrible it was for the Murphys to bury two sons. But they kept on living.
So, that’s the moral of the story: keep on keepin’ on. There must be good stories that you will leave behind.
Now playing: “High Hopes.” (Sinatra) or maybe “That’s Life.”