Originally posted by Francisco d'Anconia
Then explain:
You make it sound as if having all of those ailments are typical for someone his age. Sixtyfive isn't considered old anymore, some people only start living at that age. Why would you think that saying that he was only sixtyfive would infer that his accomplishments weren't appreciated or celebrated?
65 is not considered old any more by who? You are considered (at the risk of being politically incorrect) an elderly person , at least in the medical community because this is the age range where your health began to significantly deteriorate. Lots of stuff start going wrong
with your health around this time. So if he didn't have those health problems and would most likely have others around that age. I bet you his prostate wasn't right. All of this and the man was a former crackfiend, abused alcohol, and other drugs and burned himself way up. Technically, this man should have died a long time ago but he prevailed.
To correct my error, I will say that 69.2 is the life expectancy for a black man. Considering all of Richards health issues, he was blssed to live this long, really.
I wasn't saying that his life wasn't celebrated but although he is greatly admired for his accomplishments, we should not feel sorry that he is died at such an avanced age. To put it simply, he would statiscally speaking, he would have died soon without having all of those problems. Just having the history of a MI alone would likely to have killed him in the future from the complications of having it. Cardiac disease is the #1 killer in the country.