strangers from a different shore

Monday brings me a couple of items of sad news. First, an Air France flight from Brazil en route to Paris disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It is presumed the plane ran into a storm and all 228 on board are dead. As I said before, flying has gotten scarier and scarier for me over the years. Every bump and shake has me praying to a God that I don't really believe in. It's way too dramatic and frightful of a way to go. For me, I prefer something more subtle.

The second piece of sad news is that of an old Berkeley professor of mine - Ron Takaki. I had him for a couple of Asian American Studies classes. He was a charismatic, engaging teacher. You can feel it even from the very back of those huge Berkeley lecture halls. I am seriously not a person who lived/breathed race/ethnicity issues (uh, those Abercrombie t-shirts were actually cute to me) and barely perks up an ear when people say "chink" or "China-man," but I did enjoy sitting thru his lectures and having my eyes open. While I don't at heart share the struggle, I also know that I can have this blasé attitude is because of people like him who have fought for our equality and raised consciousness. The people who came before my generation allowed us to not feel like second class citizens in the US - that much even someone of little intellectual depth like myself understand.

Anyways, Professor Takaki took his own life this past week, because he couldn't deal with his MS. Sigh. A brilliant man and a brilliant life come to an end this way. I don't know. Suicide is a hard thing to understand. Part of me feels it is a man's right; one should be able to live or end his life on his own terms. It's ultimate control over your destiny - if you know you can't have the life you want, then you should have the right to end it. There is a lot of dignity and courage in being able to do that. On the other hand, I can't help but feel there is some weakness in suicide, some feeling of giving up, surrendering. Should one always fight to the bitter end? I can't say. I've thought this question through and through and still can't figure it out. Are you a hero or not by choosing that path?