"No man is an island" and all that; I suppose I should be affected by any death.

But with 7+ billion of us now, hundreds of thousands of people die every day. Some deaths are tragic, but some less so. And if you mourned every one, you'd drive yourself insane.

If someone lives a full, happy, and productive life and dies peacefully in their 80's or 90's, I can't really think of it as a tragedy. All of us will die, one way or another, and that's a pretty good way to go.

So while I consider it noteworthy that Leonard Nimoy died yesterday, I can't really find it in myself to think it's some sort of catastrophe. He was 83 and had a long and successful career and left behind many performances that moved people and will continue to move people for decades to come. We should all be so lucky.

This is likewise how I felt when Chuck Jones died (at 89), and when Heinlein died (age 80). (My girlfriend at the time told me about Heinlein and she expected me to react strongly; I think my lack of reaction really surprised her.)

UPDATE: IMDB says that Nimoy was in all 80 episodes of ST and Shatner was only in 79. I can't remember an episode that Shatner wasn't in. Anyone know which it was?

UPDATE: OK, Shatner wasn't in the first pilot and Nimoy was. But they used that material in the series to produce two episodes, and Shatner was in both of those.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 03:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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