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"Men, having no remedy against death, misery, and ignorance, have determined, in order to be happy, never to think about them." B. Pascal
But also to talk about them as little as possible, as if that would be enough to ward them off and delay the moment of departure as much as possible. And so, as soon as the topic of passing comes up, there are superstitious gestures, embarrassed faces, and apotropaic gestures...
When we think of death, we mostly think of the death of others. Ralph Emerson said that great geniuses had the shortest biographies, confirming that people die, in the end, as they lived. Heroes die as heroes and rock stars as rock stars... but someone in the United States took it upon themselves to discover how ordinary people pass away. Michael Largo collected and examined thousands of death certificates and analyzed an impressive volume of statistical data for an entire decade. The result is an encyclopedia, naturally in alphabetical order and complete with illustrations, of more than four hundred different causes of death, all supplemented by documented episodes, historical notes, an insight into major funeral customs throughout history, and a curious collection of "famous last words."
It might seem like a macabre operation and, for some, perhaps not very respectful of human life. In reality, the slightly ironic approach lets readers get close to phenomena that are otherwise rarely considered. Because it's striking to see how causes of death have increased from about a hundred in the 18th century to the current three thousand, despite technological progress, which often proves to be a source of new and unexpected dangers. And it's frustrating to discover how such an investigation has annoyed some lobbies quite a bit, like the arms manufacturers or pharmaceutical companies, who are daily engaged in trying to disguise deaths caused by "side effects" of their products as unfortunate accidents.
Certainly, statistical reporting is heavily influenced by geographical factors. After all, we are in the United States, and the most dangerous sport and animal turn out to be football and the grizzly.
But if Petrarch argued that "A beautiful death honors an entire life," what can be said about the 21 mascots who have left this world from 1975 to today due to the infernal heat suffered under cumbersome costumes or the particular violence of some fanatic fan? Or about the 13 murders that have occurred from 2001 to today as a direct consequence of talk shows/reality shows/TV quizzes?
But I would like to conclude with the 415 victims of sperm allergy who have died from 1958 to today, for whom I ask for a moment of silence.
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