We all know that, sooner or later, something will kill you. But there are deaths that we consider to come at an appropriate time (usually extreme old age) and in an appropriate way (generally painlessly, either in your sleep or surrounded by loved ones).
But plenty of deaths just don’t seem right, especially when the person is very young, has suffered horribly or is taken at what seems to us to be before their time.
Last night, I was at a post-Golden Globes party when the DJ began to play David Bowie songs. A couple of minutes later, someone said to me, “Is it true that David Bowie has died?” As one does in this modern age, I pulled out my smartphone, went immediately to Twitter and saw a picture of the British singer, actor, performance artist and chameleon. Without even words, I knew it was true.
On Jan. 10, two days after turning 69 — when he also celebrated the release of his 25th album, “Blackstar,” Bowie passed away after a reported 18-month battle with cancer. He’s survived by his wife, supermodel Imam, their daughter Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones (Bowie’s real surname is Jones), and film director Duncan Jones, from his first marriage. While Bowie once declared himself a bisexual and was probably experimental in his sex life, he later admitted he was a “closet heterosexual” (isn’t that a commentary on our times?).
The last video released before his death is a single from “Blackstar” — a song called “Lazarus,” whose haunting lyrics may reflect Bowie’s realization of his own mortality.
Here’s how it begins:
Look up here, I’m in heaven,
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen,
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen,
Everybody knows me now.
The Vatican even paid tribute, in a tweet from Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture:
Ground Control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (David Bowie)
— Gianfranco Ravasi (@CardRavasi) January 11, 2016
Bowie, while he didn’t have a very long life, didn’t have a very short one either. He had two wives, two children and a wildly successful career. Cancer claimed him, but his worldwide legacy will live on.
But every day, cancer claims those known to very few, but whose lives are no less precious.
On the same day Bowie died, I posted an article at PJMedia about “That Dragon, Cancer,” an “empathy” videogame created out of nearly inexpressible grief and sadness.
Here’s a taste:
There is no map to guide parents through the wilderness of losing a child. Each father and mother gropes his or her way through the darkness of grief, hoping to find a way to live on.
For freelance programmer Ryan Green, his son Joel’s fight with a rare, aggressive form of brain cancer — diagnosed just after he turned one, he died in March 2014, at the age of five — has become a videogame in which the dragon ultimately wins the battle, but not the war.
That’s because Green and his wife, Amy — who have three surviving children — are devout Christians, and their faith has been woven into the game.
From Wired.co.uk, in an article about the Kickstarter campaign that financed the game:
Play the game though, even a few early levels as I did recently, and it makes surprising emotional sense. Afterwards I asked Green whether the experience of making the game and Joel’s death had altered his faith.After a pause he answered, “when Joel was alive we were still hoping for the miracle, but I think the real challenge is to find the beauty when the story doesn’t turn out how you were hoping to write it… Through this experience God has become bigger and more mysterious to me, and it’s something I’m learning to be okay with.”
The game is released on Friday, Jan. 12 (Joel’s birthday). Here’s the original Kickstarter trailer from March 2015, which shows the real family, including little Joel:
Joel Green will never have a family of his own or a glittering career, but his father has ensured that his life will potentially touch millions. As I said at PJMedia (click here to read the whole story, including heart-rending quotes from the family on its blog):
A little boy who did no great things in the world, but was a joy to his family and all those who knew him, comes back to life in the game, not just being sick, but running and swinging, riding a hobby horse and clapping his hands.
It’s hard to imagine a better memorial to a short life, well-lived.
Amen.
Image: YouTube screenshot (‘That Dragon, Cancer’); Wikimedia Commons (Bowie)
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