US author Harper Lee dies

DA60 said:

And what EXACT sentence did I utter that you can prove using links to unbiased sources proves that I was wrong? If you are going to make a matter-of-fact statement, then you better have statistics/facts to back it up or it means little more then your personal opinion. In which case, I suggest you do not make it in a matter-of-fact fashion.

I did not say everyone should off themselves. I did not say no one is happy past 75.

I said most are not..and they are not.

I guarantee you if most people truly believed that once they die that they will be reborn in a life that was at least as good as the one they presently have (and if suicide was legal) that most people would off themselves WAY before their bodies expire.

Click to expand...

But almost no one does. QED

Jack Hays said:

But almost no one does. QED

Click to expand...

Ummm...because only stupid and/or desperate (or weak) people believe in religion and that heaven/hell nonsense. Most people have no idea what happens after death. So naturally, they are afraid of it.

DA60 said:

Most of my friends are over 70...most of them are in a great deal of physical discomfort. And almost all of them are clearly unhappy (most of it health/age related), yet have plenty of money.

There is almost nothing I truly enjoy that I will be able to do properly at 75+.

I am not going to waste my time debating this. Go to a retirement home (maybe volunteer), get to know the people...and then come back and tell me even 1/3 of seniors over 75-80 are remotely happy.

They sit around, largely lonely as their friends are dead/dying, as their families visit them less and less (largely because they do not relate to them any longer as much), as their bodies slowly deteriorate, as the public at large treat them more and more like second-class citizens.


You want to try and live forever, go ahead...I don't give a **** what you do.

Me? I am going to live for today, spend my last penny on my 72'nd birthday (if I live that long) and off myself on that day. ANd it will be a celebration of my life..not some misery fest that most people go through as they live in agony (even when they are terminal) as they desperately cling to every second of their increasingly useless existences. All the while making everyone who cares about them miserable as they have to watch you slowly disintegrate. There is little/nothing more depressing then slowly losing a loved one to a terminal disease. I watched my mother slowly die of cancer over 2 1/2 years. It was horrific. Every few weeks she would get sicker and sicker - literally watch her die a little every few days.

PASS. I am not putting my friends/loved ones or myself through that, thank you.

And the older I get, the more awful old age looks to me.

Click to expand...

I don't need to visit a retirement home. In the last two years I buried a 79 year old father who was in poor health for over a decade and an 88 year old mother in law who lived with us for two years while her mind was slowly lost to Alzheimer's.

On the other hand my wife's aunt - my mother in laws sister - died a month ago at the age of 103. She was completely in command of her faculties right to the end and was still able to walk unassisted to 101.

Honestly do what you like but there is no reason to assume life is over at 72 - there are plenty of vigorous 72 year olds around but you aren't going to find them in a retirement home because they are busy being active. I'm not going to assume that a life worth living is over at 72. Or 82. It'll be over when it's over.

Rest in Peace.

I have friends that named their son Atticus...and another that named their dog, Scout.

I think it's a book that touched a lot of people lives. The timing of the first book in 1960 was most timely and had a profound influence on the American public at the height of the Civil Rights movement. But the release of her second book, which apparently was a rough first draft of the first book and portrays Atticus as a racist also seems poignant to these current times of racial unrest.

I listened to NPR today and a woman at a book signing for Lee's book, Go Set a Watchman asked her if she intended to release the second book and she said, "Of course, why wouldn't I?" The woman said she didn't have time to delve further with more questions and later wondered if it was Harper Lee's way of exposing her home town's ugliness or her just being feisty.

It's interesting that two 20th century southern women, Margret Mitchell and Harper Lee, whose first published book about the south went on to become American classics...and neither of them wrote another book after that. It almost seemed like it was a one time divine inspiration for both of them.


Anyway, RIP Harper Lee and well done on a life well lived.

DA60 said:

Ummm...because only stupid and/or desperate (or weak) people believe in religion and that heaven/hell nonsense. Most people have no idea what happens after death. So naturally, they are afraid of it.

Click to expand...

Or maybe you undervalue life.

Moot said:

I have friends that named their son Atticus...and another that named their dog, Scout.

I think it's a book that touched a lot of people lives. The timing of the first book in 1960 was most timely and had a profound influence on the American public at the height of the Civil Rights movement. But the release of her second book, which apparently was a rough first draft of the first book and portrays Atticus as a racist also seems poignant to these current times of racial unrest.

I listened to NPR today and a woman at a book signing for Lee's book, Go Set a Watchman asked her if she intended to release the second book and she said, "Of course, why wouldn't I?" The woman said she didn't have time to delve further with more questions and later wondered if it was Harper Lee's way of exposing her home town's ugliness or her just being feisty.

It's interesting that two 20th century southern women, Margret Mitchell and Harper Lee, whose first published book about the south went on to become American classics...and neither of them wrote another book after that. It almost seemed like it was a one time divine inspiration for both of them.


Anyway, RIP Harper Lee and well done on a life well lived.

Click to expand...

Greetings, Moot. :2wave:

Well said! :thumbs: I hadn't thought of the fact that neither wrote a second book! Interesting... RIP to both who provided a masterpiece for us to enjoy!

CanadaJohn said:

One of my favourite books and one of the books that got me very interested in reading at a young age - the Hardy Boys serials were also a big motivator for me and reading.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Click to expand...

I am grateful to my dad, a reader who had been pulled out of high school to work during the depression. "To Kill A Mockingbird" arrived in my home sometime around the Kennedy assassination; I was to read it soon after. That and reading about HUDAC, Joe McCarthy is what led me first into the protest movement and finally into journalism.

For me she identified the face of blind bigotry.

coyotedelmar said:

To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the few books in school I actually read and liked. Iirc it was that, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, Great Expectations, and a couple others.

Click to expand...

All that you mentioned and 'Flowers for Algernon' were books that made me love reading when I was younger. And I still do love reading.

Gaius46 said:

there is no reason to assume life is over at 72 - there are plenty of vigorous 72 year olds around but you aren't going to find them in a retirement home because they are busy being active.

Click to expand...

I visit nursing homes several times a year in my work for Uncle Sam, and I typically meet briefly with several residents, randomly selected. Now there's no doubt that a significant percentage are in a bad way, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. But others are in fine shape. Why are they there? Generally, it's because they're ninety or even a hundred plus and aren't quite able to live alone, perhaps only for financial reasons.

Life expectancy has been extended many years compared to when we middle-aged types were young and developed more or less fixed opinions about "being old." And once you get to be fifty or sixty and are in pretty good health, chances are you'll live quite a bit longer, and continue to be generally healthy doing it. Heart and brain diseases/conditions that end or severely diminish so many lives today are the focus of a lot of very productive research and effective treatment. I think the key is to live a healthy life to the extent you can, and try to do things that make life worth living, like being there for others.

DA60 said:

only stupid and/or desperate (or weak) people believe in religion

Click to expand...

An incredibly bizarre statement, imo. I'm an agnostic, with a strong expectation that there's some spiritual "dimension" to reality. I have no religious "faith," although I sort of wish I did. Yer saying Bergoglio is stupid, desperate, or weak? The Dalai Lama? Martin King? How about the Nazarean?

>>Most people have no idea what happens after death.

By definition, no one does.

>>So naturally, they are afraid of it.

Doesn't sound natural to me, not at all.

Moot said:

portrays Atticus as a racist

Click to expand...

I figure these things are complicated. My godfather was a naval officer (had the Lexington sunk out from under him in the Coral Sea) who grew up in South Carolina in the 1920s. I may never have met a finer gentleman, but he "knew" blacks were somehow inferior — intellectually, socially, whatever. He saw them as children, sort of. He was always kind to them, gentle. I think there were a lot of people like that years ago, men and women with strong character who were influenced by their social environment to be that way. Lincoln was, after all, a racist.

SenorXm/Sirius said:

All that you mentioned and 'Flowers for Algernon'

Click to expand...

I was strongly influenced by 1984 and The Painted Bird.

Gaius46 said:

I don't need to visit a retirement home. In the last two years I buried a 79 year old father who was in poor health for over a decade and an 88 year old mother in law who lived with us for two years while her mind was slowly lost to Alzheimer's.

On the other hand my wife's aunt - my mother in laws sister - died a month ago at the age of 103. She was completely in command of her faculties right to the end and was still able to walk unassisted to 101.

Honestly do what you like but there is no reason to assume life is over at 72 - there are plenty of vigorous 72 year olds around but you aren't going to find them in a retirement home because they are busy being active. I'm not going to assume that a life worth living is over at 72. Or 82. It'll be over when it's over.

Click to expand...

Fine...do whatever you want.

And so will I.

Good day.

Jack Hays said:

Or maybe you undervalue life.

Click to expand...

Maybe.

But looking around at the planet and how SO many humans treat each other like **** - I doubt it.

You wanna live to be 100? Go ahead.

Hopefully I will leave this ****ty world long before that age.


I know one thing...there is only two ways I want to die - by my own hand while I am COMPLETELY independent or (hopefully) while saving someone else. The thought of a slow, demise as I lose more and more independence/my faculties disgusts me.

Andalublue said:

Sad news, but a long life well lived. RIP.

US author Harper Lee dies aged 89 - BBC News

I just read her Go set a watchman, not a classic but the work of a great stylist.

Click to expand...

She never intended for Go Set a Watchman to be published. TKAM was her great masterpiece, and although she was an incredibly private person, she is still much beloved by most Americans. I was saddened by her passing.

DA60 said:

Maybe.

But looking around at the planet and how SO many humans treat each other like **** - I doubt it.

You wanna live to be 100? Go ahead.

Hopefully I will leave this ****ty world long before that age.


I know one thing...there is only two ways I want to die - by my own hand while I am COMPLETELY independent or (hopefully) while saving someone else. The thought of a slow, demise as I lose more and more independence/my faculties disgusts me.

Click to expand...

A good friend in the Air Force once told me his goal is to die at 105, shot in the back by a jealous husband as he is escaping out a bedroom window.

DiAnna said:

She never intended for Go Set a Watchman to be published. TKAM was her great masterpiece, and although she was an incredibly private person, she is still much beloved by most Americans. I was saddened by her passing.

Click to expand...

I was also saddened to hear of the death of Umberto Eco; a towering figure of modern European literature. The Name of the Rose was an outstanding work of art, and so was Foucault's Pendulum.

MOCKINGBIRD is one of the great books and then films of all time. 99.999% of people who live never come close to that sort of giving excellence to the world and enriching our culture.

God Bless Miss Lee.

Jack Hays said:

A good friend in the Air Force once told me his goal is to die at 105, shot in the back by a jealous husband as he is escaping out a bedroom window.

Click to expand...

Redd Foxx used to say he wanted to die of a massive heart attack in his late 90's on the last night of his three week honeymoon in Hawaii atop his beautiful 22 year old bride.

What a way to go!!!!!

Jack Hays said:

A good friend in the Air Force once told me his goal is to die at 105, shot in the back by a jealous husband as he is escaping out a bedroom window.

Click to expand...

So he wants to die at 105 while committing adultery...that is his life long goal for the scenario of his demise (even if he was joking)? What a loser of a way to go.

And I want to die (ideally) at 72 or under (even 62) after saving a child from a burning car but dying when I went back to check for more passengers (there were none) but dying instantly when the car exploded. And no one has to know of what I did...I am not sting to do it for fame or credit...just honor. NOTHING is more important to me then honor.

I may or may not be a loser...but I want to go out doing something good for another (if I possibly could).

That is my point. Hanging on to life when you can no longer contribute to society and/or are terminal is often selfish and cowardly (with all do respect to my mother - whom I loved VERY much), IMO. You cause pain to those that care about you as they are forced to watch you slowly die. The money you waste either from your own pocket (that could go to your loved ones) or taxpayers as looking after dying people is usually EXTREMELY expensive medically.
A truly noble elderly person who realizes he/she can no longer contribute to society would be to kill themselves so that they can spare their loved ones and they will also have more money to give to their children through inheritance.

Most people stay alive when they are past 75-80 and are in poor health for one reason...they are scared of death. Understandable, but hardly noble or honorable.

'It's better to be dead and cool, then alive and uncool'...Harley Davidson (fictional).

To Kill a Mockingbird was a standard text in English secondary schools for many years and we were all the better for reading it. The character of Atticus Finch was one of my inspirations for taking up a career as a criminal lawyer.

DA60 said:

So he wants to die at 105 while committing adultery...that is his life long goal for the scenario of his demise (even if he was joking)? What a loser of a way to go.

And I want to die (ideally) at 72 or under (even 62) after saving a child from a burning car but dying when I went back to check for more passengers (there were none) but dying instantly when the car exploded. And no one has to know of what I did...I am not sting to do it for fame or credit...just honor. NOTHING is more important to me then honor.

I may or may not be a loser...but I want to go out doing something good for another (if I possibly could).

That is my point. Hanging on to life when you can no longer contribute to society and/or are terminal is often selfish and cowardly (with all do respect to my mother - whom I loved VERY much), IMO. You cause pain to those that care about you as they are forced to watch you slowly die. The money you waste either from your own pocket (that could go to your loved ones) or taxpayers as looking after dying people is usually EXTREMELY expensive medically.
A truly noble elderly person who realizes he/she can no longer contribute to society would be to kill themselves so that they can spare their loved ones and they will also have more money to give to their children through inheritance.

Most people stay alive when they are past 75-80 and are in poor health for one reason...they are scared of death. Understandable, but hardly noble or honorable.

'It's better to be dead and cool, then alive and uncool'...Harley Davidson (fictional).

Click to expand...

I can see that someone didn't bring his sense of humor today. And strictly speaking, wouldn't only the wife be committing adultery?

As for the rest, my wife and I hope to live deep into old age to be with our children and grandchildren (and maybe, someday, our great-grandchildren). There is profound joy in that; I'm sorry for you that you don't see the same.

Jack Hays said:

I can see that someone didn't bring his sense of humor today.

Click to expand...

I have lost too many people I love and watched too many people die to take this subject with much humor. Sorry.

And strictly speaking, wouldn't only the wife be committing adultery?

Click to expand...

No, they would both be committing adultery...at least in my book. They are both selfish, dishonorable, weak acting people. To have sex with someone you know is married and their spouse does not know about it and it would probably hurt them if they did is pathetic and weak.

I have done many weak/bad things in my life. Having sex with someone who is in a relationship (married or otherwise) is NOT one of them...though I had my opportunities. I just draw the line on some things.

As for the rest, my wife and I hope to live deep into old age to be with our children and grandchildren (and maybe, someday, our great-grandchildren). There is profound joy in that; I'm sorry for you that you don't see the same.

Click to expand...

Do whatever you wish.

But, with all due respect, if either of you are past 75 and become terminal and no longer are productive...the honorable thing to do is to kill yourselves and save your loved ones the misery of watching people they love slowly die.

I adored my mother...but I think it was weak and selfish if her to not take her own life soon after her cancer was diagnosed as terminal (and she accepted that). Instead she hung in for 2+ years of agony and misery. And she made every one around her unhappy and depressed every time they visited her as we were forced to watch her get sicker and weaker and then she slowly started to lose her mind.
I was the only relative with her when she died (as I was in charge of looking after her). And when she finally past (when I was 25), after I stopped crying, I felt extreme relief that it was finally over. That maybe selfish...but I guarantee you I was not alone in that thought. At the time, I thought she was brave to put up with so much pain for so long...I no longer think that way.

There is NOTHING honorable or brave in prolonging your life when you are over 75, terminal and can no longer look after yourself...nothing. At least, not in my book. And I am not interested if others disagree.

DA60 said:

I have lost too many people I love and watched too many people die to take this subject with much humor. Sorry.

No, they would both be committing adultery...at least in my book. They are both selfish, dishonorable, weak acting people. To have sex with someone you know is married and their spouse does not know about it and it would probably hurt them if they did is pathetic and weak.

I have done many weak/bad things in my life. Having sex with someone who is in a relationship (married or otherwise) is NOT one of them...though I had my opportunities. I just draw the line on some things.



Do whatever you wish.

But, with all due respect, if either of you are past 75 and become terminal and no longer are productive...the honorable thing to do is to kill yourselves and save your loved ones the misery of watching people they love slowly die.

I adored my mother...but I think it was weak and selfish if her to not take her own life soon after her cancer was diagnosed as terminal (and she accepted that). Instead she hung in for 2+ years of agony and misery. And she made every one around her unhappy and depressed every time they visited her as we were forced to watch her get sicker and weaker and then she slowly started to lose her mind.
I was the only relative with her when she died (as I was in charge of looking after her). And when she finally past (when I was 25), after I stopped crying, I felt extreme relief that it was finally over. That maybe selfish...but I guarantee you I was not alone in that thought. At the time, I thought she was brave to put up with so much pain for so long...I no longer think that way.

There is NOTHING honorable or brave in prolonging your life when you are over 75, terminal and can no longer look after yourself...nothing. At least, not in my book. And I am not interested if others disagree.

Click to expand...

As you wish.

Jack Hays said:

As you wish.

Click to expand...

Good day.

May you live as long as you wish and in perfect health until the second you die.

Cephus said:

But it's not just this, every time someone who ever did something they could have been known for dies, there's a post memorializing it.

Click to expand...

I really think you are making a mountain out of a molehill.

Harper Lee wrote one book in 1960 and a second one in 2015. That's it. Not a single book in between. She was hardly a mover and shaker in the American literary scene.

Click to expand...

To Kill a Mockingbird had no impact on the American literary scene? Thousands of schools across the nation beg to differ.

Geoist said:

To Kill a Mockingbird had no impact on the American literary scene? Thousands of schools across the nation beg to differ.

Click to expand...

Lots of kids are forced to read it once in high school and immediately forget it. It is the one book Harper Lee ever wrote in her life (her 2015 book is an early draft of the same book).