death

Archived Posts from this Category

Wed 7 Mar 2012

Realization

Posted by PJ under childhood, death, epiphanies, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:

 

“Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don’t go on forever. Must have been shattering, stamped into one’s memory. And yet, I can’t remember it. It never occurred to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squalling, with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, there’s only one direction, and time is its only measure.”

—Rosencrantz, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Mon 13 Feb 2012

Tears for Whitney

Posted by PJ under addiction, celebrity, death, music, recovery
No Comments

I won’t pretend that I was a big fan of Whitney Houston. I didn’t dislike her. I admired her incredible voice and that spark she had in her youth. It’s been tragic watching such a gifted woman take a long, painful slide to the bottom. She died way too young and I can’t help wishing that somebody, somewhere had been able to help her help herself. Because other people do not make you sober. That’s something that has to come from within.

Still, I shed tears for her this morning. It wasn’t the rehash of the Grammy tribute, her powerful version of I Will Always Love You, or any of her other hits. It was, of all things, hearing her sing the Star-Spangled Banner. That moment was such a triumph for her, coming at a time right after 911 when America was on the ground, desperately looking for a way to get back up and move forward. Whitney Houston’s simple but amazing rendition of the national anthem somehow encapsulated America’s yearning for a reason to keep going. She was truly and utterly ours in that moment, and she gave us the gift of hope and pride that helped us find our own way towards recovery.

But there was, apparently, no one who could give her the same gift. Maybe they tried, and she just couldn’t translate that help into something that worked for her. Even if it turns out that drugs and alcohol played no part in her death, they still had a hold on her, making her a mockery of her former glorious self. She hit the ground hard and never really got up, though she struggled on and off to get her feet back under her. For whatever reason, her inner demons were stronger than her wonderful gifts.

Tags:

 

Tue 13 Dec 2011

The equalizer

Posted by PJ under death, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:


“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.”

—Publilius Syrus, Maxim 1

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Tue 15 Nov 2011

Longer not better

Posted by PJ under death, quote of the day, what the living do
No Comments

Random quote of the day:


“There are two ways of extending life: firstly by moving the two points ‘born’ and ‘died’ farther away from one another…The other method is to go more slowly and leave the two points wherever God wills they should be, and this method is for the philosophers…”

—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Aphorisms

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Mon 17 Oct 2011

Always be different

Posted by PJ under death, katrina, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:


“I saw a dead guy on the front porch of a shotgun double on a working-class street, and the only sound was wind chimes.  Everybody here has a dead-guy story now.  Everybody here will always be different.”

—Chris Rose, “The First Time Back,” 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Mon 12 Sep 2011

For September 12th

Posted by PJ under death, poetry, what the living do
No Comments

WHAT THE LIVING DO

by Marie Howe

 

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven't called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
It's winter again: the sky's a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through

the open living-room windows because the heat's on too high in here and I can't turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,

I've been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,

I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.

What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss--we want more and more and then more of it.

But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep

for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:
I am living. I remember you.

 

 

Tags:

 

Fri 20 May 2011

Tit for tat

Posted by PJ under death, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:

 

“Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.”

—Yogi Berra

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Thu 17 Mar 2011

Equality

Posted by PJ under death, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:

 

“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.”

—Publilius Syrus, Sententiae, Maxim 1

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Thu 4 Nov 2010

So it goes

Posted by PJ under death, quote of the day
No Comments

Random quote of the day:

“When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that same person is just fine in plenty of other moments.  Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is ‘So it goes.’”

—Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

Tue 10 Aug 2010

Occasions of note

Posted by PJ under birthdays, death, quote of the day, what the living do
No Comments

Random quote of the day:

“In life one has to go to the funerals of the people we like and the birthdays of those we don’t.”

—Wieslaw Brudzinski, quoted in Geary’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Aphorists

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Tags:

 

« Previous Page