Two Deaths Two Completly Different Lives

On Monday of this week the lead story in the news down here in Brisbane was of a funeral and memorial mass going on in the neighboring country of New Zealand. New Zealand was honoring one of their own who had lost his life a week earlier to natural causes. This New Zealander was Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb to the peak of Mount Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary lived his life to the fullest and throughout his life he was a gentleman first, then a famous person.

Sir Edmund Hillary lost his life due to heart failure at the ripe old age of 88. In the years after he conquered Mt Everest he continued to conquer other famous mountains, married, had 3 children, and then gave his life to helping out the Sherpa's of Nepal. His Himalayan Trust which he founded has raised millions of dollars to help build schools and provide other services to these poor people.

What a difference 2 days makes. When I got to the office on Wednesday morning everyone was talking to each other gossiping. Wondering what was going on I was quickly informed that news had just broke that the actor, Australian born, Heath Ledger was found dead in his NYC apartment. Immediately the speculation began. He was a druggie. He was depressed. Being a pessimistic person myself at times I was surprised to find myself defending Ledger telling my coworkers that he could have died by natural causes and not by some means of self infliction. 24 hours later and after a completed autopsy there is still more confusion. The report said that death could have been brought on by an accidental overdose of prescription medication. Interesting...... is it only famous people who can die by an accidental overdose? Any other bloke would be deemed to have committed suicide.

But I am getting off the subject here. Ledger was famous for his looks and his acting. He was only 28 years old. Sir Edmund Hillary lived to be 88. I am sure Ledger was generous in his own right but he didn't live his life the way Hillary did. They are from different generations. Generations that couldn't be more opposite. Tom Brokaw wrote a book and produced at TV special called 'The Greatest Generation'. It was about the lives of people, our mothers and fathers or grandparents who lived and fought in WWII and then went on to make America and the world a great place. Ledger grew up in Generation X, maybe even a more recent generation. I lost track of what the generations are called after X. Ledger could have been as famous for his off screen heroics as Sir Edmund Hillary was but he will forever be known as the actor who left us way before his time.