wil said:
To me it was bound to happen. He lived at the edge. Like test pilots or astronauts or solidiers or policeman or fireman.... they have occupations which in any given day could be their last.
Couple of interesting questions here...is death sacred...and are jokes appropriate...
I think all of the stages of life are sacred...including the now...death...and birth...and see death as a birth...from this plane to the next...a transition, not in any way an end. This fact does not mean that I feel a need to trivialize it or demean it...
The jokes are ways for people to minimize their grief, to avert their emotions temporarily. And any time someone famous or infamous dies, especially in a dramatic fashion...they are expected...While they range from humorous to distasteful...they are in to me a tribute, a memorial of sorts as well.
This is very true. People deal with death in their own way. It is a nervousness about the unknown that someone has gone over to that often causes people to crack fun at, and that is especially true for people that deal with death often (though not for the same reasons).
In places where suicide is prevelant, and the same people have to come in day after day and clean up the mess, there is a strong sense of gallows humor.
Once a reporter went with us on a "suicide jump" from a bridge known for jumpers to frequent (only once each, usually)
As we pickep up the last of the pieces of the situation, and headed back to shore, someone noted that Levis' Jeans Company could make a great commercial that would appeal to the modesty of those bent on killing themselves, by advertising that if one wanted to go via a bridge, make sure to wear Levis button down jeans, as they are the only thing that will stay on upon impact (when bodies hit the water at a high rate of speed, all clothing blows off, from the impact).
Of course we all chuckled at that, except the reporter who questioned our callauseness for the dead. One of us looked at her and quietly said, "If you deal with death every day, and you don't make fun of it, you'll go insane..."
Another time we pulled a jumper from the river (who'd been in for about eight hours). When the local police came to carry his body to the morgue, we picked him up by his arms, and he stood on the fantail like a statue of the tin man, he even had a half smile frozen on his lips. So the police stood on either side of him, leaned on his arms while someone else took a picture, and evrybody laughed at the "stiff shot". Then, they laid the body down gently on deck, placed a blanket over it, while one policeman made the sign of the cross, and said "poor bastard, tomorrow could have been a better day..."
Alot of the reasoning behind this joking is that it helps take the edge off of our sudden forced contemplation of our own eventual demise, and is a way of easing the unanswered question of "why" something had to happen a certain way.
Even Mr. Irwin poked fun at death throughout his carreer, and made no bones about it. He was often quoted as saying, "this could be my last moment..." (para). What he did do for us, however is show us that nature is not something to be feared, but respected. And we are all part and parcel of nature (subject to its rules and reality).
One thing I find ironic, is Mr. Irwin's one private comment about his misgivings on going into the sea. In the outback he was at home, and knew what was around and about him, but in the sea, he was out of his element. I think, for once, he was uncertain about himself, and therefore not prepared, and that cost him dearly. But even here, he taught us a great lesson...
We can't go through life half cocked, but ignorant about what we are getting ourselves into. There is no bliss in ignorance.
my thoughts
v/r
Q
