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Saturday 7 October 2017

Quit Saying Any Celebrity Over 60 "Died too Soon"

It's not at all weird for someone to die at 66. Especially someone who lived like Tom Petty did.  And the thing is there's nothing wrong about that happening.


Death is actually a NORMAL fucking thing, it's not some crazy tragedy that was otherwise avoidable, that only happens sometimes.  It happens to everyone. And it's ridiculous to say that someone who reached senior citizen age after accomplishing a world-spanning award winning career of international fame and fortune while doing an insane amount of drugs and having a schedule that would tire out a 20 year old somehow "died too soon".

There's no such thing as "dying too soon". There's just dying. And everyone dies.
But saying that about anyone over 60 is especially ridiculous and the kind of thing that we can only say in a society so decadent, soft and mollycoddled that it has separated itself from the reality of death so much that death feels like something alien, weird, unnatural or avoidable

I'm not quite at Petty's age, and probably did (very) slightly less drugs than he had, but consider it surprising every day I wake up alive, and have lived my life in such a way that if I didn't, that would be fine too. Because I got shit done. I lived. I've followed my dreams. I've been places. I've written books. I've had a life explored to the fullest. I've pursued loves and passions without compromise, to such an extent that how long you live no longer matters because of how profoundly you're living.

And so did Tom Petty. So you want to say you're sad? Sure. That's fine. That you miss him? OK. But don't suggest that he died "too young" or that his life was somehow 'incomplete'.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Neerup Bent Billiard + Image Latakia

6 comments:

  1. Not quite Petty's age? Dread Cthulhu! How old are you?

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    1. Well, I've said I'm a Gen Xer, which puts me somewhere between ages 35 and 55.

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  2. You would probably come back in some sort of Pipe Smoke Force Ghost to haunt us into finishing to mess up our DCC campaign.

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  3. He died too young and his life was somehow incomplete. Ha.

    He actually just got his first #1 album and did a huge anniversary tour that ended right before he died. Might have been a good time to call it quits.

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