The life and Times of Adrian Jackson
  • The Year Ahead
  • Page 2 and Sunday
  • Snow and Exams
  • Wednesday Night Reflections
  • America!
  • Indianapolis
  • America Continued
  • Wednesday Oh Wednesday
  • Jen
  • Howl at the Moon
  • James Dean
  • A Southern Meal
  • America Summarised
  • Back to School
  • Politics and Running
  • Literature and Vietnam
  • Divorce
  • Work, Play and 30 Seconds To Mars
  • Haircut Please
  • International Relations
  • Friends Visiting and Spring
  • Wendy Visiting
  • Manchester
  • Easter Dissertation Station
  • My Blogging is Slogging
  • Mayball 2010
  • Updates!
  • Moving back to Essex
  • Born in the USA
  • American Updates
  • Lecturers and Motorbikes
  • Laid back Lifestyle
  • Passing Away
  • Dreams and Aspirations
  • South Carolina
  • The 90's
  • Movie Time
  • Chivalry Will Get You No Where!
  • The Times They Are A-Changin
  • A Wintry Christmas
  • Happy New Year
  • February Already?
  • Blog updates
  • Back to Basics
  • I Predict A Riot
  • Sat Night Colour
  • November/Groanvember
  • England's Job Market
  • A New Start, A Sad Goodbye
  • The Road to London

Life/death

8/3/2010

1 Comment

 
Picture
I have not posted a subject for about two weeks, simply because I couldn't think of a decent enough subject really and then I was in my bar the other day having a conversation about death (less morbid than it sounds) and I figured i'd post about it here...

Being in America for an extended amount of time and talking to many different people has made me realise that death and dying are much more frequent here in America than in England. This of course could just be my own opinion.
The last post I posted was about the shootings downtown here in Indianapolis and how 10 people were shot. When I logged onto the bbc news website this morning, there was a post about a gunman who was fired from his job, went and grabbed a gun and shot 8 work colleagues dead before shooting himself. This was in cincinnati.

While talking to some regulars the other day, I found out that a lady I know witnessed her father shoot dead her brother when he was 15yrs old for being a bad kid! The story was told in such a casual way that I almost just nodded and went about my daily business!

I feel that America's gun laws and access to guns are a major problem in unnatural deaths. When people are young and they fall out, it is so easy to get a gun. The same of course applies to unstable people who just crack under the stress of life and go on a rampage. Mostly everyone I meet here has a story that has either affected them on a personal level or they know of someone who has died.

I have only ever gone to one funeral in my life which was my Grandpa's and I was too young to really understand it. I guess my life has been quite sheltered in terms of people dying around me which I am thankful for.

Death always seems so unnatural, sad and scary to me. I would hate to have to exit this life early, especially over something so small and stupid like most of the shootings I hear about. I feel that if we are only given one life and we blow it, how could there ever be anything more tragic than that? I do plan to live a very full, fullfilling life. I do however keep a BB gun by the door! ha.

On a nicer note, there is an elderly couple that come into my bar every once in a while and the wife is 92yrs old and her husband is 98yrs old. When they come in, she has a little Bourbon in her coke and he still drinks a pint of beer. They always crack a joke or two and are always smiling. I'm not sure I would want to lead that long of a life but if I do, I sure hope i'm as happy and active as these two awesome people.

1 Comment

    Author

    Adrian Jackson - blogger, reader, writer, Lays Barbecue chips fan.

    Archives

    August 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.