Losing a friend to Death

A young friend died last week.  A  motorcycle accident.  He was 24.  Peter was a sweet, funny, smart and serious young man.  I have known his fiancee since she was child.  Lisa's mother died when she was 10.  It isn't fair.  It never should have happened.   Peter and Lisa volunteered with me at a free after-school program, an outreach to underprivileged children.   He was so good with the kids.  A Vietnamese-American, he went to Vietnam for several months to work in a medical mission.  I reunited with him at the "Keep Austin Spicy" festival.  I didn't realize he was back.  I ran to him and shouted "Peter!!!!"  I gave him a big hug.  I had only known him one school year, only seen him once a week.  Yet, when I saw him, my heart filled with joy.  "Peter!!!"   He had returned from Vietnam determined to go to medical school.  He was working hard toward that goal.  All the tomorrows that lay before Peter and Lisa are gone.  This is senseless.

Another friend is dying.  Betty is 88 years old.    We are not close friends, but she is a member of my lifedrawing group.  I have seen her almost every Tuesday for, I think, two years.  A talented artist, she was a WAVE in World War II.  I visited her yesterday and found her in a cheerful mood, even tho in pain.  A great gal. What a life she has had; what changes she has seen!   Her death too is a loss.  Talking to the elderly is like traveling in a time machine.  When they are gone, the time machine no longer  goes to that particular time and place.  This too is senseless.

Here we have Death and the Maiden, by Hans Schwarz, the Northern Renaissance artist who died in 1532, only 40 years old.


A classic theme in Northern art.  Vanitas.  Death woos the maiden, who shrinks from him.  But, he holds her fast.  


Italian poet Cesare Pavese wrote: 

Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi ochi.  (Death is coming and will have your eyes.)  

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."  


Is all senseless?

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