Mourning Sickness

All death is to be mourned. Often, the perceived or even actual nature of a person in life can shape or subordinate that mourning but perhaps it is not for mere humans to judge at such a moment. I can not say I mourned the departure of, for example, Saddam Hussein but I do deprecate the unseemly celebration which accompanied the event and the accompanying endorsement of judicial killing. You have seen my comments on execution before; the death penalty is wrong. Daeth in any form can never be a cause for celebration.

Most of us enter and leave this life unnoticed; I know I shall. Some have the distinction of making an impression in the lives of others and often for good reason. This weekend took two such people from us. Of course it is judgemental, even if positively so, to venture such comment but my life and thoughts were enriched by both. No man is perfect and I am sure that Saturday's departures had flaws but both impressed me in different ways. Brian Haw was the anti-war campaigner who defied state-sponsored oppression and, of course, war in Parliament Square. How strange that someone could be vilified in official circles for opposing war. Are there people in the second decade of the 21st century who are pro war?

In an entirely different orbit was Clarence Clemons. Best known as the extraordinary saxophonist in the E-Street Band, Clemons' viscerally memorable solos and stage presence will live on. Springsteen has now lost Clemons and Danny Federici and the band is diminished for those losses but no more so than our blue planet itself.

It is so easy to read and swiftly dismiss the many reports of deaths great and small which populate the daily news. When my colleague Ben posted on the untimely demise of Ryan Dunn I had to look him up as I am not a 'Jackass' fan. Therein lay a tiny lesson. Perhaps we should take a moment to note all deaths and learn the meaning of loss in the lives of others as well as our own. Perhaps then we would be better to live with.