Enhanced Tragedy

The fact that Rod Donald's death has been revealed to have been caused by a lowly and subversive viral infection serves only to to make his untimely death seem all the more tragic. One of the things that has really struck people about this exponentially unfortunate happenstance is how Rod died so suddenly, when he was the last person that anyone had expected to reach the end of the line. Now the idea that it could happen to virtually anyone is a thought that is bound to further upset many people.

Rod's passing, I feel, has not only caused an outpouring of sympathy for the man himself, but it has prompted people like you and me to look at themselves and their friends in the consideration of mortality. Given the hazy, almost automated state that the complacent Westerners of this day and age have a tendency to constantly be engulfed in, seeing a high-profile case of someone that most of us did not know personally -- but who felt we knew rather well through the media -- passing away this easily has really hammered home the idea that eventually, we will all come to an end after all.

I am one of the individuals guilty of taking my life for granted at many points throughout, but I can certainly be more grateful that I am alive after Rod's passing and the grief that I have seen it cause. When the news broke that Rod had died due to a "suspected heart attack," I felt as if this tragedy was particularly relevant to me, despite the fact that I did not know Rod personally. As a person with very high blood pressure at a very young age, a history of such problems in the family, and a grandmother who recently suffered from a heart attack (but survived, thank goodness), I have found myself preparing for the prospect that I may die as a result of some sort of cardiac mulfunction when I am middle-aged.

It's hard to describe, but Rod's passing has really made me realise that when your time is up, that's it, and you have no more chance to do anything for the world. You have no idea when exactly you are going to die, so you may as well start right now in your contributions of what you perceive to be for the betterment of society. I can only dream that I will have contributed as much as Rod once my time comes. You can watch a stream of Rod's funeral that pays tribute to his life achievements and the wonderful personality that he was at the TVNZ Web site.

The most significant effect of Rod's passing for people in general, I think, is, as I said earlier, just about everyone who has been touched by this tragedy has violently come to the realisation that they and their loved ones are only human, and that their time will come eventually. This is accentuated by the fact that Rod was so vibrant and so full of life. Rod's story serves as an example that -- no matter how successful a person is in all of their endeavours, how good-natured they are, how much they remain on top of things, how much promise they show and how much respect they are accorded by all who know them -- we are all mortal in the end.