John Donne by Isaac Oliver |
"Death Be Not Proud" was the title of a famous poem by John
Donne and also of a memoir by John Gunther about the death of his teenaged son
from a brain tumor. But death is beyond proud. He’s a conceited prick, a lord of
misrule who’s bent a creating havoc. What’s worse is that he tends to be
indiscriminate. Those who deserve to
live and have long lives ahead of them, are often tapped --something which
recalls Groucho Marx’s famous quote about not wanting to be a member of any
club that would have him for a member--while the demagogues and epigones, the
idolaters, and those who contribute little to society seem to live forever. One
recent anecdotal study showed that those who treated their children badly often
lived exceptionally long lives. Death is definitely disagreeable and it’s
surprising that with all his promises to make America great and first, Donald Trump hasn’t asked General Kelly over at Homeland to
tamp down on death which is currently ravaging our population. By present estimates
death fells 100% of the population at one time or other. So it’s definitely
something that just about every politician’s constituency is going to recognize. Anybody who
can successfully abolish death will be re-elected by the voters in his or her
district by a landslide. Death has to be stopped. Let’s stamp him out before he causes more
damage. Heidegger said that anyone who wasn’t aware of death lived an
inauthentic existence, but there's no record of the famed philosopher still holding to that position as he lay on his deathbed. It’s hard to understand why the Pro-Lifers who oppose abortion and the right to die, have failed to get on the bandwagon.
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