Death

There has been a lot of death going around recently. I found out on Monday that my mentor from my previous workplace had died. I took up his old job after he left when it was discovered he had cancer and that was around a year and a half ago. He pretty much beat the cancer but died of emphysema in the end. He was the complete opposite to what you would except from an IT guy. Firstly he was in his sixties, secondly he was a rough looking guy, thirdly every second word that came from his mouth was ‘f***kin’ and he was loud, fourthly he had previously had careers in the army and as a truck driver. The main thing about him was that at the top of his personality, he was a good guy. If you were up front and honest with him you’d gain his respect, but if you were a slacker or someone who is too scared to the bend the rules now and then to get the job done, chances are he wouldn’t have like you much. The thing I respected most about him was that he was never afraid to speak his mind, even when he knew that others would disagree with him. Bob you’ll be sorely missed.

Of course everyone knows about Steve Irwin’s death and there are already many blogged comments about it. All I want to say is how sad I am for his family; you can only imagine the void that they will have in their lives with him gone. I for one liked his crazy energy and I hope the Irwin family can find the strength to deal with it and continue the work that he so loved, as I’m sure they will.

The third death related item is that my family’s eldest cat ‘Benson’ had to be put down the other day as he had become very sick and was in a lot of pain. He’d contracted feline AIDS from fighting with other cats in his earlier days and his condition only would have gotten worse with time. It was still a very tough decision for my family particularly my mum to have to come to. A lot of people who have never had pets or don’t feel any kinship with animals won’t know how real the grief of losing a beloved pet can be. But for anyone who does know, it can be just as painful for some as the loss of a human friend. A previous cat that we had got hit by a car, and while mortally wounded he crawled into a neighbour’s backyard where he died alone which I found very distressing, but at least Benson was with my mum when he passed away. He was a real tough guy character of a cat and we’ll miss him dearly.

I have never had to deal with much death before and when you are faced with it, be it human or animal it really makes you realize that even though someone may be full of energy one minute, we only ever have a tenuous grasp on this thing we call life.