When You Go You Go — But When Is It That You Don’t Go?
We all think, especially when our age advances, about what will happen when we go. Some fear the thinking itself, some hope for a legacy, and almost all hope to be missed by some at least.
Beyond everything we all want to be remembered. Unfortunately, almost always that is a fancy hope. We had a classmate from college who died recently — even among the classmates it was just around 10 messages reminiscing decades-old memories, and occasionally some recent interactions.
Truth is, most of us lead a very banal life, where beyond the usual eat, love, sleep, pray cycle we rarely venture out to create or achieve something which has meaning for others. And that is true even in the family — even the kids will not remember the parents unless there are happy moments of nature and nurture, which help them to shape up.
Public memories also paradoxically have another facet, when someone goes early. This only magnifies when there had been some significant flames that were showcased when they were alive. Like Jimi Hendrix, Cart Cubain Swami Vivekananda, or Amelia Earhart. It is always a speculation and mystery about what would have happened if they lived their full life. Would they have achieved new heights like Tagore, peaked and then receded like Churchill, or have faded including falling from grace — like Swamy?
I get fascinated all the time about short lives well lived. It also gives me a sense of how much one can pack in a short time, and why we all should strive to be a better version of ourselves, even when we are older, as tomorrow can well be reshaped by all.
Serendipity brought me to one such soul recently. A background score on a Facebook reel triggered a search for cover versions of Diamonds by Rihanna, and I chanced upon this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGduBB9tzkU
But what is this comment below “It hurts watching him perform knowing that he is no longer with us. His talent was undeniably amazing and left a huge hole in the heart of us all?”
Willie Spence was just 21 in 2021 in this American Idols audition. A show where he went on to be the runner-up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oycvZ-sHKyE
But Wilie sadly passed away in a single-car accident on October 11, 2022, at the age of 22. So you have a passion for singing but also have a huge weight challenge. You lose 180 pounds with herculean efforts and come second in American Idol. People were talking of a possible Grammy in five years. And when everything was looking good and a stairway to heaven beckons, you are gone in a flash.
Life is so ephemeral, that one never knows when it is over. We are one of approximately 20 billion humans who ever lived on the planet, so we are by definition insignificant by birth. The goal of an ideal life is to leave some marks on the sand, on the highlands enough so that water can’t reach easily and wash it off. And be in a rush to do all these.
Where is Willie Spence now? In our collective memory, even in mine who is so far away from him and his world. And that is how he becomes a diamond among the abundance of coal all around.
