Patrick Swayze died today at the age of 57 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Swayze always seemed like a stand up guy. He was married to his wife, Lisa Niemi for 34 years and by all accounts they were devoted to each other. Not only handsome and talented he was a passionate conservationist, spending time in Africa to draw attention to the devastation there caused by men’s greed and disregard for nature.
Patrick Swayze will probably be best remembered for the oft repeated line from the movie, Dirty Dancing, “nobody puts Baby in the corner.” Or the tear jerker pottery scene from Ghost, “I love you.” “Ditto.”
But I was more impressed with his performances in the movies, Next of Kin and Roadhouse with Sam Elliot where we were introduced to the musical genius of Jeff Healy, a blind blues and jazz guitarist who also died of cancer at the age of 41.
Swayze’s last gig was the dark drama on A & E, The Beast, but due to his declining health, it had to be cancelled. He maintained a positive outlook throughout his illness, but was ever cognizant that the odds were not with him.
"One thing I'm not gonna do is chase staying alive...You spend so much time chasing staying alive, you won't live."
"Now cracks a noble heart. Goodnight, sweet Prince.And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." -Horatio
RIP Swayze.
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind this other death notice inserted here, rockync.
And RIP this little known, brave woman, who, had we had something so basically humane as a national health system, might still be alive today to fight against more bigots:
Beth Rickey collapsed and died alone on a motel room floor in Santa Fe on Friday night, a pitcher of ice tea in her hands. She was just 53. She had been ill for 13 years, mostly with a mysterious virus she had picked up on a church mission trip to Mexico. Debilitated, she had run through her life savings. Philanthropic help was on the way, but not in time.
It was a sad end for one of the bravest women you could ever meet. There had been a time, back in the early 1990s, when journalists and academicians, Jewish leaders and evangelicals, conservative and liberal, all proclaimed her a heroine. They were right.
Beth Rickey, perhaps more than any single person, helped stop the meteoric political rise of neo-Nazi David Duke. People today may forget what a political force Duke had become in Louisiana back then. With three weeks remaining in the 1991 race for governor, Duke had been in a statistical dead heat in the polls against ethically challenged former three-term governor Edwin Edwards. And Duke had the momentum.
What Duke could never escape, though, was all the evidence that he truly was a neo-Nazi, rather than what he claimed to be: a next-generation Reaganite conservative with a long-ago tawdry Ku Klux Klan past that he had thoroughly put behind him. Much of that evidence was unearthed by Beth Rickey.
Ms. Rickey had been a conservative Republican activist since her teenage years in Lafayette, La. She had interrupted her doctoral studies to work on a state legislative special election in early 1989 for businessman John Treen, brother of former Gov. David C. Treen. It was supposed to be a sleepy by-election -- until Duke caught fire.
Ms. Rickey began researching him, past and present, and realized sooner than almost anybody else that Duke was both more sinister than ordinary redneck racists and far more politically savvy. She made it her mission to stop him.
RIP Ms. Rickey
RIP Crystal Lee
RIP Stanley Ann Dunham
All brave women who might still be alive today except for the lack of adequate health insurance.
Don't mind at all Shaw. While I am glad that Patrick was able to get the best medical care and, in the end, die peacefully with his family gathered around him,I think it is appropriate to draw attention to those less fortunate. That the three deaths you have brought to our attention are poor women without adequate health insurance is particularly apt at this time.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest thing is that 3 out of 4 of us know what a problem this is and want guaranteed access to health care. 3 out of 4 health care professionals, doctors and nurses.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest thing is that we are not close enough to a democracy that a 75% majority can get anything done against the wishes of a corporate elite who consider that a government guarantee of any profit level the market will bear is a right that will not be infringed.
I'm sure a 90% majority would be shouted down just as easily. Money talks, money votes -- we just bang our heads against the wall, send people to blow up other countries and call it fighting for freedom while every vestige of ours is frantically being chewed away.