The mind is a marvelous thing of somewhat magical qualities because it has the ability to reject any principle like the laws of nature or laws of god and imagine a world without those laws.
You should try it some time.
For example, take the principle of death, what if death could be undone for people. Then take some of the people who died way to early in life and just imagine what they could have done with a "normal" life span compared to what they did in a tragically shortened life.
Like Jesus for example. Now JC turned everything in the world upside down for all time and he died at age 33 after preaching just 3 short years. What if he stuck around preaching until he was 70 which is not all that old anymore? Then he would have had 37 more years of preaching and imagine what impact that might have had on things.
There might never have been any question of him being the true Messiah and all those various sects and denominations of Christianity might never have existed, sects which led us into 2000 years of warfare, hatred and willingness to ignore the Ten Commandments although Jesus never said there were Ten, just one and then a second.
Singers and composers seem to be targets for early death. Buddy Holly died at just 22, Hank Williams at 29, Patsy Cline - Jim Croce - Momma Cass Elliot all at 30, Karen Carpenter at 32, Bob Marley at 36, Harry Chapin at 38, John Lennon at 40 and Elvis at 42.
Holly, Williams, Croce, Marley, Chapin and Lennon were among the greatest song writers of all time and were not even close to reaching their peak in terms of creative output.
Consider the enormous body of work all these gifted artists, singers and songwriters all, generated in their abbreviated lifetimes. All of them should have lived 28-48 years longer if they lived a normal life meaning we lost out on more than 50% of their potential musical contributions to our history.
Then there is the strange 27 Club, those artists who died at the age of 27, and this includes a host of singers pushing the envelope like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and the most recent addition Amy Winehouse.
How bizarre is that? Not a single one died of anything remotely connected to "normal" circumstances. Some people even speculate they might have subconsciously or even consciously died when they reached that age. Drugs, booze and prescription drugs all played a role in the deaths.
Let's change fields of entertainment and take movies for example. James Dean died at 24, when he was just getting started while Marilyn Monroe died at 36, at the peak of her popularity and Natalie Wood died at 43. Even though Natalie spent her entire life in movies she was just reaching new fans and rebuilding her image.
So how did they die? A car wreck, drug overdose and drowning, again no natural causes and we were all cheated out of an entire body of work.
Of course in politics there was Bobby Kennedy at 43 and John Kennedy at 46 who along with their friend Martin Luther King, Jr. at 39 all were taken at the beginning of their contributions to America.
And let us never forget the enchanting fairy tale story line of Diana, Princess of Wales, dead at age 36, because of her contributions to the future of royalty in terms of personality and legacy.
Is there a lesson? Make sure when you are planning your life the way the insurance and finance companies want you to you take the time to enjoy the present as if it were the last days of your life because it just might be.
Actuarial tables suck!
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