Middle Age and Mortality

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 18 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Tarotbear 2	18 Apr 2002
With the death of Brian Willams at 44, it has really started me wondering...... Death was never the exclusive province of the aged, but lately it seems like more and more people in their 40s tend to be dying... My partner died five years ago at age 47... The mens organization I belong to has lost three members since January, all in their mid to late 40s... If life expectancy has increased in the last generation -- why is it that so many young people are dying ?

Malachite	18 Apr 2002
I think its the unhealthiness of life these days...no one really does excercise, and the ones that do carry it to extremes...we eat crap, and pump more into the atmosphere for everyone to breath. We shove negative energy into everyone elses lives, and have stressful jobs... I'm sure there are more, but i think the first three pretty much account for everything up to and including cancers... I didn't realise it was that bad already though...I though it would be more when people my age hit the 40 band...(estimated 1in3 to get a cancer disease...)

Marion	18 Apr 2002
Sometimes I think people our age are giving up.

Dragonfly	18 Apr 2002
I agree going into that age rage myself. I look back at my parants at my age yes they both work had bills to pay but always seemed to have time for life to stop at least for awhile. In todays world there is no time to stop.

Butterfly	18 Apr 2002
97% of diseases these days are lifestyle related (diet, stress, toxins, smoking etc). Makes me wonder why we pour so much money into genetics, cures etc when prevention and education could be so much more effective.

Talisman	18 Apr 2002
'Lo all, "If life expectancy has increased in the last generation -- why is it that so many young people are dying ?" Tarotbear, that's a trick question I think. Of course, Malachite and Butterfly are right. And, while life expectancy has increased, people are not living any longer than, say, your great-grandparents did. What has declined is child mortality. If 150 years ago, one child in four died before reaching the age of five, and today only one child in a hundred dies before age five, then do the math and average it out. Thus, medical science can boast that life expectancy has increased. Watch a sunrise. Sometimes, dawn sneaks up on you. It comes so gradually and gray, so tentative, it is impossible to determine when it stopped being night and became day. Sometimes, it is a booming red blast, like Kipling's Road to Mandalay, "Where the sun comes up like thunder, out'a China 'cross the bay." They are all beautiful. I am sad to think that I have seen more dawns than I will live to see. Talisman

Logiatrix	18 Apr 2002
i don't think that there are more deaths, it's just that we are more likely to here about it, and much quicker. i DO believe we are more obsessed as a society about youth, so when a young person dies, we really notice it. i agree about the dark perspective of the current youth. they seem to have little disregard for the reality and finality of death. i suppose it would be difficult to comprehend when you've always had images of combat and slayings in the movies you see, and the "play again" option on your nintendo. this generation, as well as the last and my own, has even seen death glorified like never before. there once was a time, in cinema, when it was just important to die beautifully and with honor. now, it's more about going out in a violent blaze of glory, with a strong "nothing left to lose" attitude. it seems to be how many young people feel in these current times.

Talisman	18 Apr 2002
Oh, 'taz, Return with me to the days of my childhood, when we had heros like James Dean, who said, "Live fast, die young, and leave a good lookin' corpse." Back in the antediluvian age, children. Some things don't change, and some always have to teeter on the edge. Just that the edge keeps shifting, you know? Talisman

Morgeinne	25 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by metaz i agree about the dark perspective of the current youth. they seem to have little disregard for the reality and finality of death. i suppose it would be difficult to comprehend when you've always had images of combat and slayings in the movies you see, and the "play again" option on your nintendo. this generation, as well as the last and my own, has even seen death glorified like never before. there once was a time, in cinema, when it was just important to die beautifully and with honor. now, it's more about going out in a violent blaze of glory, with a strong "nothing left to lose" attitude. it seems to be how many young people feel in these current times. taz...thanks for posting this :) i am 14 myself, and it does bother me how some people my own age look at death. i, personally, am not scared of dying--just of those around me dying, and i want to die quickly with as little pain as possible, to tell you the truth...i also don't want anyone to mourn, i want to be cremated and i want everyone to have a huge party. i hate funerals. i hate sadness...i'd rather them celebrate my passing than look at it as a bad/sad thing, you know? but the violent blaze of glory---i see that so much in my own peers. i don't blame the media, but i do think that the kids who look at death like that should have to be forced to think deeper into it. *hugs* Morgeinne

Logiatrix	25 Apr 2002
fourteen, and so wise! thanx, morgienne...your words give me much hope. i mean, no offense to fourteen-year-olds in general, but i didn't know they (you) thought that way. ...and gosh, i was such a DORK at fourteen! i definitely shouldn't judge other teens by my own *gasp* adolescent history--YUCK! any-hoo, i'm very impressed. your words of insight on just this one topic strike a resounding chord of hope in me for the future of our country--unless you get fed up and withdraw your citizenship. our global brothers and sisters here may start wooing you for their own nations. stay strong. :)

Morgeinne	26 Apr 2002
taz...thanks for replying about that...people tell me i seem older. i look older than 14, and my mom says i'm "too mature for my own good" (but you know how mothers are, i'm sure, love to keep us kids being kids...) really i do think my own peers sometimes see it as you said (not trying to offend my own age group, but they CAN be idiots sometimes...) lol, not withdrawing citizenship *yet*, though i'm open to argument about that (i don't like how the bush admin is handling this war. actually, i don't really like the bush admin period. no offense to republicans, that's just my view. now i'm just scared of offending everyone!) thanks taz, for saying that...because sometimes i think adults don't see that we aren't all valley girls and jocks. we do actually think and care about the world and death and stuff like that. some of us are smarter and deeper than most bother to see...sigh. i'm getting off on another tangent, my hate of ageism. okay, i'mma shut up now. *hugs* morgeinne

Kiama	27 Apr 2002
Woohoo!!! Three cheers for Morgeinne! Kiama

Morgeinne	28 Apr 2002
Kiama...thank you :) I think I'm going to start a "quote tarot" deck, just for the symbolism, in addition to my Harry Potter deck (which I might actually use for readings), but I really really love your sig, it may end up on one of the cards...lol...if that is cool with you...I LOVE THAT SIGNATURE! hehe. I think I'm a little wired on caffeine right now. *hugs* Morgeinne

The Middle Age and Mortality thread was originally posted on 18 Apr 2002 in the Chat board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Chat, or read more archived threads.