Accepting Loss Forever, Part Deux

I am compelled to revisit last week's post by the report this week that the last words of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were, “I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die.” Not only does it sound a little el pollo poo-poo for a general to be whining like that, but it also shows that Señor Chavez was somewhat behind on his visits to The Nobby Works where we champion Norman O. Brown's exhortation that we "accept loss forever...admit the void."
Advocacy of that position did, however, raise some alarm bells throughout Nobby World. One loyal reader went so far as to embark on a suicide intervention after reading the post, imagining I was writing it with a loaded six-shooter beside my iMac and a shot of hemlock in my Merlot.
Then there was the “Say it ain't so Joe’s” who tried an intervention out of concern over my anti-Marxist sentiments (Marx as in brothers, not as in workers of the world unite). I should've been more careful, I guess, in choosing an example to illustrate the point that life is a succession of losses. The loss of certain enjoyments in our lives is rather relentless, either because of physical failings or emotional depletion. This happens to all of us along the way, and as I said last week, it's not a bad idea to embrace the reality of loss as part of life...if for no other reason than to cushion us for when it happens.
Easier said than done of course. As much as I accept it intellectually and try to write about it with clarity and objectivity, I have found myself reacting to certain losses with an anguished wail from such a deep, wounded part of me that I've feared I might never return from the pain. But eventually return I do. And that happens when I’m able to accept the finality and ineluctability of the loss.
This has all caused me to take an inventory of the various losses I’ve experienced in life—things that brought me a certain degree of joy at one time or another, but no longer do for one reason or another. I present them here in no particular order…and surely not to imply any kind of equality among them. But I do like to think that accounting for them like this prepares me for dealing with the losses to come…
My once-sharp eyesightJeopardy-quick recall of triviaEating DonutsMacaroni & cheeseChocolate cake with white frostingCounting down the days til ChristmasThe three I's of bliiiss--Innocence, Idealism, IdiocyGod
Dad
Dreams of winning the Oscar for best screenplayWatching the OscarsDouble featuresGoing from first to home on a double to rightThe Red SoxPlaying football on Thanksgiving with the home boysSaturday morning cartoonsPlaying the DVD commentariesWatching PTIThe next Beatles albumParadesCircusesSnowBlack RussiansJack DanielsMargaritasCarnickingParentingFlowered tiesBell bottoms (with & without the blues)The Great Jewish Hopes for President (Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner)Marx Brothers moviesMarley…
Speaking of Marley…well, that’s next week…