[показать]I have just learned that Patric Swayze has passed away today. While I cannot call myself a big fan Mr. Swayze and do not know much about him, I have always appreciated him as an actor and, most importantly, from what I've read and watched, as a good person. It is true that he did not have as big of an impact on generations of people as did Michael Jackson, whose death is still a matter of discussion for tabloids and E-news, but his passing away, for some reason, touches me much more than that of the King of Pop or a few other celebrities whose death caused much turmoil in the showbiz in the recent years.

What follows might sound insensitive, but I stick to this point of view. In my opinion, while every death, timely or not, is sad, it is untimely death caused by illness (but not limited to it) that truly deserves to be called tragic, as opposed to the one caused by drug (prescription or not) abuse, which I see as a natural outcome of a reckless lifestyle. The disease, such as cancer, comes from nowhere and claims person's life within months, leaving its victim only little chance to fight. On the contrary, trying to drown one's pains in anti-depressants, soporifics, or drugs invites death to pay a visit; in the end, the person just gets what he or she was asking for.

The topic of cancer in particular is very sensitive to me, because my mom won her battle with it two years ago. This is why, every time I hear that this disease has claimed yet another life of someone I know, even if it is a person I once saw on TV, I come to realize how fortunate I am to still have her with me. Unfortunately, Patric Swayze was not as lucky as my mother. He put up a great fight, but lost the last battle. I hope that whatever his beliefs are he has finished his journey on this planet with peace in his heart, happy with the life he had and things he had chance to accomplish.