The Absent Uncle: Dying young

By: 
D.C. Schultz, guest columnist

The other day I was reading a column written by Garrison Keillor (Nov. 25, 2022) where he stated “and soon I was too old to die young”, revealing that at a certain age he quit worrying about dying young. I was intrigued by the thought and started thinking about what age was he referring to. 

I have to admit, I have never had this thought myself prior to reading that column, but it certainly got me thinking.

Dying young; is that defined as a person that passes away in their adolescent years (teenage or earlier)? Or, is it as you start to get your life underway with relationships, family, career, and such? 

Could it be after you have established yourself, but not yet reaped the benefits of your hard work, efforts, and good fortune?  

Or is it after you have the security, the stability and those benefits that we all look forward to and strive to attain? We made it – enjoy it – what’s next.

Dying young. So undefined and so personal. Personal for each of us as is our life span.

Keillor recently turned 80 and has been writing quite a bit about that milestone. From his column you would almost feel that he no longer would feel like he died young if he should pass. Nothing to be missed; been there, done that. I certainly could be wrong in my interpretation.

Now I am a bit younger than him (less than 10 years), but I don’t agree with what I perceive he is saying in his column. Maybe that disagreement will change with the coming years; but I now strongly feel that I need to take care of myself, make good life choices, and count every additional day as a gift from “dying young”. It’s personal.

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