5th Mar - I'm not scared of death, I'm just scared of not living...



I'll be completely honest with you... I've never cared for the sport of cricket. Laborious, slow, boring... Undoubtedly the type of viewing for those with a more 'gentle' mind than the frenetic crescendos which fill my own monkey-clapping-a-cymbal, pinball-type, neurological workings. Despite this, I was fully aware of the genius of Shane Warne. Through a flirtation with the sport in Summer 2005, thanks to Channel 4's coverage of 'The Ashes', I was immediately spellbound by Monsieurs Flintoff, Hoggard, Harrison, and Pietersen, and their daily battles with Ponting, Longer, McGrath, and above all... The spiky-haired thorn in our side. Warne. 

This blonde maverick was - even to my basic Cricketing understanding - a genius. A certain aura followed him around the pitch, and like so many, I'd marvel at his outrageous spin style. So much so, that I later invested my entire birthday money fund into the 'Brian Lara Cricket' game on Playstation 2, just so that I could attempt to replicate this outrageous bowling technique in e-format. We, as society, have a tendency to eulogise the dead in ways which are often, looking at things objectively, rose-tinted, on account of their legacy. We - rightly - don't wish to speak ill of them, though statistics would quickly inform us that not every individual in the public eye was a 'pioneer' or 'leading light' in their field. 





Yet, tragically, my Mother's claim that 'God takes the good ones first' may have some rationale to it. When we think of pop music, we think of Michael Jackson. Electronic music? Avicii. Rugby? Jonah Lomu. Basketball? Kobe Bryant. Football? Diego Maradona. Formula One? Michael Schumacher. All undeniably reached the summit of their respective industries, and all were confirmed dead, or in a permanent state of paralysis, before the age of 60. Warne himself was 52 at time of death, a full 30 years younger than the average age of passing for males in his native country of Australia. 

The only thing we can learn from such tragedy, especially in the case of Warne, who had been active on Twitter and within the public eye up to a few hours before his incredibly sudden heart attack, is that nothing is promised. Not today, not tomorrow, nor even one hour or one minute from now. I have no guarantee that I'll even get to click 'publish' on this post as I sit here typing it now. The best lesson we can take from such adversity is to grab every inch of life as, and when, we can. No waiting for your pension, or your retirement, or that holiday '5 years from now'. If you've got the money, do it NOW. And if you've not, save as fast as you can to get it DONE and ticked off the bucket list immediately. Even the concept of a 'bucket list' is somewhat misconstrued. These are not things to do 'before you die', they're things to do 'as quick as you can'. You see... I, myself, am not scared of death...




... But I'm petrified of ever having to leave life behind.


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