How would you like to die?

By Patrick J. Wood

Publisher

Dear Reader,

Recently a close friend asked me how I would like to die.

My response was, “Beyond a natural death?”

He answered, “Yes.”

My reply was that I didn’t want to die a parasite depending on the guilt of those who once knew me, loved me, and felt compelled to keep me from a nursing home.

My friend said, “I get it, but what’s a happy death for you?”

I said, “A happy death would be to go peacefully at a not too late age before I no longer have control of either my mind or body or both... maybe with a half-finished single malt in one hand.”

After thinking about it a bit, I thought an ideal way to check out would be playing a role in saving a part of humanity from some tragedy — kind of like a burst of glory.

I guess they’d shed a few more tears at the funeral but of course, I’d be dead.