The Death Of Good Taste

There are those who still lament my decision of quitting weaving a tapestry of morbidness here, at the very least on a monthly basis -as I used to do- collecting every and all obituaries that I could find on the net, repackaging them in my own nearly inimitable way...

To these tormented souls I say: all good things must come to an end.

And speaking of ends, some ignominious other just plain lugubrious, let us get to the heart of the matter as it pertains not to this blog but to this very particular -and rare, nowadays- update posted on these funeste premises...

The focus, everywhere else where death gets mentioned, is always upon those celebrities that might have gone on: the focus will either be upon the most sordid details of these demises or it will be given to the possibility, however remote, that said celebrities might still be alive - physically alive. Such an obsession is borderline neurotic and truly is going overboard: for if there is one thing we must all accept, it is that everyone, even those we deemed to be such (fleeting, ephemeral, trivial and false) ªstarsª have to go away - they have to die, too. No one is forever: no one without God in their lives can be, that is. And then, even with God in your life, you will not be *forever* or eternal in the exact same way as you are now; which is just fine for most everyone, I am sure...

Good taste has been slowly dying for decades now, as the folks have started to either worship or deify some celebrities; or gone out of their way in order to ªproveª that these celebrities are not, in fact, dead - even when it makes very little sense to try and do so. Veritable cults have been developing over the years this sordid way: James Dean, Marilyn, Elvis. The latter must still be a live, somewhere in the south we presume... Lady Diana is gone, that much is for sure; but she must be an angel now. Or a goddess. More and more examples seem to pop up every year, as conspiracies to conceal the purported-to-be ªfake deathsª of some celebrities are implied by hordes and hordes of teary-eyed fans in denial.

And that is, quite simply, not in good taste at all.

We have to know when to let go - we have got to let them rest in peace. Of course, the expression ªrest in peaceª adheres to the belief that the dead would be ªsleepingª while they await Judgement Day or an awakening that only God Can Provide. The truth may well be that the dead do not sleep at all but are roaming the universe, souls freed from their mortal shell, communing with the cosmos - still awaiting Judgement Day, but doing so in the greatest of waiting rooms that can be conceived of! This implies, of course, that some of these souls might still be partaking of the seen (and living) world's affairs. Why not - after all, we have ghostwriters, shadow cabinets and behind-the-scenes puppeteers as it is: why not some actual ghosts with that, while we're at it? If I had my choice in these things, I would rather know that it is a ghostly power that might be in contact with the Higher Power that is pulling some strings at the governing level rather than some lowlife with very earthly interests and, therefore, no greater concerns than material gain.

Of course, as they say, ªcareful what you wish forª - for the ethereal strings puller might be in cahoots with the other side instead of the Higher Power and that would be far worse than a mere fool with materialistic ambition taking up most of his short time on this earth...

Time is, indeed, short on this side of things - for all of us. This life is not to be wasted pursuing trivialities. An unhealthy obsession with anything -including the end of this life and most certainly the impossible end of one's favorite celebrity's life- is in extreme poor taste and effectively dilutes the merit of your own existence and passage through here - if it does not waste it entirely. I do not say to forget entirely that the end will be coming, one day, and to simply LIVE: that is impossible to do and unadvisable by all means. It has got to remain in the back of our minds, always: as surely as time passes, death is ever nearer. And it can be there waiting for us at every corner, at any time in our lives. We do not choose the time of our departure: so many have departed prematurely, tragically. The key is not to obsess over it and strive to live each day to the fullest - for it might have been our last. If not, great. But remember, if only for a fraction of a second, that it might well have been...

I believe that the majority do just that indeed - and that explains why this blog and many other sites just like it are so popular. It is not as much a morbid fascination as it is a deep and profound knowledge that pushes us this way: the knowledge that death will come, as surely as life did. However, having said that, I will take a step back now here and cease to scrutinize the Grim Reaper's work so intensely. When it is our turn to go, we'll go too, that is all. Its reapings do not need to be reported monthly, weekly, daily - that is too much. Let's devote this time to LIFE rather than the expectancy of DEATH: and I advise everyone to do likewise. We have all of eternity to explore the ªother sideª - while life is, as we know, all too short.

The occasional lugubrious update can go, henceforth - but no more than that.

For everyone else - there are plenty more out there who do exactly as I used to do here: write eloquent and, sometimes, simply routine obituaries about the recently-departed and newly-deceased on a fairly regular basis: I suggest checking them out, if the urge is to strong for you to resist still... And if you wish to mourn the losses of rich and famous people, these opportunities abound just about in every type of media... Such a ªfixª can be obtained, therefore, just about anywhere. YouTube provides all the tools for those who want to analyze, ad nauseam, the infinitesimal chances that such and such ªstarª might still be alive... Chances are, of course, that they all are - but in ethereal form only. After all, no one ever truly dies: energy forms do not simply dissipate - they move on. Hence, we cannot die. It just looks that way...

2010 saw many young socialites buy the farm far earlier than anyone might have ever expected it to happen; some were diseased but others simply lived life way too damn fast - and they bit the dust earlier as a result of that fast pace...

There are many - truly MANY - websites out there that are truly fascinated by the mere notion of DEATH - and what may or may not come from it. For many are those who see only it as the end indeed - period. Those sites that I would mention in the same breath as this very lugubrious blog here would be from the other category of websites - those whose webmasters know, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is an afterlife, that physical death is NOT the end at all, that it is merely a passage onto another reality, the TRUE REALITY - as you see permanently quoted on the sidebar of this very lugubrious blog, in truth!

One of my favorites, year and year out, remains Boston.com - which, truth be finally told here, was one of my most reliable sources for each and every one of my annual summaries here, back in the day... Why give out this information along with the link more precisely *now*, you ask? It is more relevant than ever for Boston - for they mourn Edward Linde this year. Without him, Boston would not have become the gem that it is now. So Boston.com is the place to be at, on this end of the year 2010 - if you so do wish to mourn with millions of others the departures of the famous and recognized of this world...

To mourn those whom only you know and that are, for the most part and for the world at large, unrecognized - I think you all know where to go for that.

My sympathy to you all.
No matter whom you mourn.

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