The Deaths of McMahon, Fawcett, Jackson

    Whether we want to think about it or not, death is something to think about. Sometimes we begin to think about death because of a health crisis, our own or a loved one. Sometimes we think about it because of the news, a week like last week forces one to acknowledge death’s shadow. As shocking and sad as death is, it is an imminent fact of life for each of us. Perhaps thoughts regarding death allow us to more fully embrace life. Faith gives us eternal hope in the face of death, yet it does not erase its wake of grief.
    Ed McMahon picture
The death of Ed McMahon at age 86 was hardly shocking,but nevertheless I felt a twinge of sadness that his earthly life is finished.He lived a long and apparently good life. He was the sidekick of the 60’s talk show host, Johnny Carson’s sidekick. McMahon said, “My talent is making it seem I have no talent,’’and once wrote, “It took me years of hard work to convince an audience that I wasn’t working.’’ McMahon was a big man with a booming voice and a louder laugh, he was a natural salesman and gave the aura of comfort and ease.Apparently his booming laugh made him a natural straight man. He seemed to have lived a good life, I don’t remember reading scandals about him.
     Farrah Fawcett's picture
The death of Farrah Fawcett was not unexpected either, after viewing her documentary on her courageous and valiant fight against cancer that had returned. Yet sixty-two seems too short a life. I had hoped that she would win her battle with cancer. I had been praying for her, even though I never met her. Farrah Fawcett was an actress and sex symbol, whose fame peaked in the 70s. Her famous mane of hair, beautiful smile, and a pose in a red swim suit probably brought her more fame than any of her acting. I thought she was a beautiful woman, but had dismissed her as Hollywood fluff. Unfortunately her decades after the seventies were filled with the typical scandals of celebrities; relationship and drug problems,and criticized antics (i.e. David Letterman show, Playboy, etc.). Yet when I viewed her documentary on cancer I saw a smart and courageous woman. She was vulnerable yet strong, reaching out to others fighting cancer. I was surprised to learn of the depth of her childhood faith and her return to it in her last years.
    Michael Jackson's picture
Michael Jackson was an entertainer for all time, but the 80swas his big decade. He was born with a musical genius and gift as a dancer that was evident by the time he was five years old. His album “Thriller” was the all time best selling record. Yet for all his talent and fame (or perhaps because of it) he appeared to be a lonely and troubled adult child. His sensitive nature had not allowed him to manage childhood abuse, betrayal, or the trials of worldwide stardom. His inner sense of himself had somehow gotten twisted and distorted through life’s betrayal and pain, and he had retreated into “Neverland”.His early and sudden death was a shock.
     All three of these famous people are people I never met,never knew personally. What I do know about them has been gleaned through the years; seeing them on TV, internet news, magazines, or a review of the news events of their lives because of their recent deaths.This information does not depict the ways they were loved or loved others.Their deaths did get me thinking about life, love and death. What is it us ordinary people; those of us struggling to pay our bills, work out our relationships, raise our families, mow the lawn and load the dishwasher, will we be remembered for? In each of these celebrities' lives there is fame and fortunate, and heartache and scandal. In the lives of Saints or sinners—you will find much the same. Both exist in each of our lives. It is my hope that everyone gets to heaven, that whatever people suffer here is enough to make up for whatever love they weren’t able to give and whatever pain they inflicted in other's lives.
    Death raises ultimate questions about life, the meaning of our existence, and our soul. Maybe it is good that we stop for a moment and look at the deaths of famous people we never really knew, think about our own deaths too. “We do not know the hour or the day”.  Death reminds us of the gift of life,death makes one realize today is sacred. Maybe today we offer up a prayer, because we have a sense of our human powerlessness and we want a faith in a God who would intervene.
     People of faith seek to make sense of suffering and death through their faith. Death is the most final of things we know of, the termination of our human life as we know it. Despite medical advances, cures for previously terminal illness, understanding of the aging process and postponement of death we are still overwhelmed by the knowledge of the finiteness of our human body and the suffering usually incurred through death (for both the dying and the grieving). We seek answers and expect science to explain, but it isfaith that gives us answers by embracing the mystery.
     Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist in the last century who survived Auschwitz, wrote a book in 1956, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, which chronicles his experiences in a concentration camp. He claims that ‘meaning’ is what we all seek and meaning is found in every moment of living; “life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death”. He explains that, “even prisoners' psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of this life, but also from the freedom of choice to always have a faith in the future.Once one loses that faith, he is doomed.”
     The atheist Nietzsche who said, “God is dead” also said, “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” Which, to me are statements of contradiction, because the “why” that bears any “how” is a faith in God. A life basing on faith in a loving God who offers eternal life, has a why. Suffering can be endured, even valiantly faced by those of great faith, because they believe that love is stronger than death. “Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is a strong as death.” (Song of Solomon 8:6)
Death remains a mystery and somehow we must rely on the faith which enables people “to be united in Christ with His loved ones who have already been snatched away by death and arouses the hope that they have found true life with God.”  (GS 18) . God is love, and God can never be dead as long as love endures in this world. Love carries us through life, and beyond into the divine darkness.

Jesus Christ in death, by Debra Classen



…Lead us up beyond unknowing and light,
up to the farthest, highest peak of mystic scripture,
where the mysteries of God’s Word
lie simple, absolute and unchangeable
in the brilliant darkness of a hidden silence.
Amid the deepest shadow
they pour overwhelming light
on what is most manifest.
Amid the wholly unsensed and unseen
they completely  fill our sightless minds
with treasures beyond all beauty.
-Pseudo Dionysius  (sixth century)


Posted by Debra Classen at 7/1/2009 11:50 PM
Categories: Reflections
Tags: Ed McMahon Michael Jackson Farrah Fawcett death icons
 

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