Dying, old and asleep or young and awake

My cousin woke up to find her young daughter strangled to death. A cord accidentally wrapped around her daughter’s neck in the night.

My friend who runs the PowerPoint at church got a text the other day about plans to meet one of his Korean buddies. Next thing he knew, his buddy had killed himself. “See you in heaven,” his Facebook status said.

Heath Ledger died of a drug overdose at 29. Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest at 51. Steve Jobs died of cancer at 56. And the whole world mourned.

Thank about it. John F. Kennedy. James Dean. William Shakespeare. Bruce Lee. Jimi Hendrix. Alexander the Great. Martin Luther King, Jr. Maybe – almost certainly – someone you knew.

Death is everywhere, but everyone wants to die old and in their sleep. Not me. I’d rather live a short life and die awake than live a long life and die still asleep.