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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi – 2017
Some of the notables who passed in 2017. (Click for larger image)
Around this time every year, the list comes out. “Notable Deaths of…” It is a recurring feature, a mile marker that we have to pass to get from one year to the next.
The list is always intriguing. Some played our games on the field, some sang our songs, some pretended to be other people and made a lot of money doing it. Others simply served their country, either in politics or in uniform. One became the center of a lawsuit that has roiled the country for 40 years. And then she fought for the rest of her life to undo the damage.
Some died too soon, others faded into obscurity. “I thought he died years ago!”
Unfortunately, there are those who became famous only in death, just because they were at the wrong place and at the wrong time, be it at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, worshiping in a Texas church or in the path of a devastating hurricane.
It was a bad year to have wielded a guitar for a living or to have played baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies. Fewer names from “The Greatest Generation” showed up, reminding us that the few are getting fewer and fewer. It will probably also be the first year (and the last) that St. Peter was ever greeted with the phrase, “What are you looking at, ya hockey puck?!?”
Two and one half million Americans pass each year. It’s the anonymous ones that touch us the most, not the ones that get splashed on a front page or take up time on the evening news. We mourn those closest to us. There are no commemorative TV specials, no glossy memorial magazines, just days when we’re a little bit sadder and we sigh, “Gee. Mom would have 92 today.”
In 2017 3.9 million Americans also came into this world, kicking and screaming much to the delight of their parents, each a blank slate, each capable of great things, or great disappointment. Such is the way of the world.
As you watch or read the year-end reviews think to yourself, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi – Thus Passes the Glory of the World. But also know that the glory continues in countless ways. Not at the local cinema or pouring out of an electronic box, but in the hearts of your loved ones. Being remembered there is the only glory that really matters.
Published in General
EJ. This was all so beautiful. A wonderful gift to us as we pass into a new year.
Thank you. I’ll be sharing it with my husband.
Is pass the same as die? I hate that euphemism. If anyone says I passed, I’m going to come back and haunt them.
You will pass and you will not collect $200.
Seriously.
And how about, “the ‘late’ Mr. X.”
It should be, “the ‘never arriving’ Mr. X.”
There are a lot of euphemisms about death and dying. Most you don’t want to use in a formal setting. “Mr. Carter bought the farm on Tuesday. Those who croaked before him include…”
I would suggest that you pre-write your own obituaries. Not that you’d know they were used.
There was an obit in our local fish wrap yesterday, that said “Mom ran a tight ship, setting a standard her daughters-in-law could never meet.” I doubt “mom” pre-wrote that.
I was almost run over by a Zamboni backstage at an NHL game a few years ago. I envisioned my obit reading, “Mr. Hill was resurfaced last night at Nationwide Arena…”
Mark Steyn is always good on obituaries…
https://www.steynonline.com/7652/going-solo
You might. There have been no reports.
A few years ago an obit in our paper had the line:”Murial was the captain of Bob’s ship.” (Not their real names).
I thought it was sweet and sad and I bet everyone who know them nodded and thought “Yep.”
Upon reading this wonderful post, I sent texts, email, calls, etc. reminding my loved ones how very much they matter to me.
Thanks for the reminder of what’s most important, @ejhill.
At an aunt’s funeral last week, her son-in-law described her this way: ” Three words, fiercely independent, fiercely opinionated, and fiercely loyal.” The cousins, all 30 or so of us who could make it to the service, were sure that he had captured her spirit in those words (1, 3, or 4). She will be missed.
I agree. Reminds me of the story of the cannibal who passed his friend on the trail.
Good OP, though.
I work with lots of veterans in my job. When I first started, I handled a number of WW2 vet’s files. Now, it’s mostly Korea and even Vietnam vets. But the other day, one of my vets stopped in to pick up a copy of his DD-214 because Texas DPS wanted it to renew his driver’s license and notate that he is a vet on his license. The gentleman is 93 years old and a WW2 vet. He is the youngest of 8 brothers, all of whom served in the war. He told me they all came home….some served in Europe and others in the Pacific. Some in the Army and some in the Navy. He told me that he thought his mother’s prayers must have been direct to God’s ear. He said that his unit used to have reunions , but they quit in the late-1990s because everybody was dying or too sick to come. All of his brothers are now deceased. He was a spry old guy…although not sure he should be renewing his driver’s license. I need to get him interviewed for the Library of Congress Veterans’ History Project. Those WW2 vets are amazing! Every…single….one of them has told me that they didn’t do anything special and others had it worse. Greatest generation indeed!
Richard Hatch?! Powers Boothe?! say it isn’t so.