Sunday, June 19, 2011

Do You Believe in a Promised Land?

Not to sound morbid or anything, but why do men usually die first?  With today being Father's Day, and yesterday being a huge moment in music history with the death of "The Big Man" Mr. Clarence Clemons, and knowing so many men who have passed on who were fathers or grandfathers, it makes me ask the question of why do men usually pass away first?  

Yes, Clarence had a stroke which ultimately became the real cause of death, but what was the underlying cause of that stroke? His high blood pressure, or poor eating habits? My grandfather who passed away in 2010 died from smoking for years and years and his lungs just rotting away to something worse than Swiss cheese.  Yes smoking was his cause of death due to the deteriorating lung health, but what led him to smoke?  My other grandfather who died in 2003 died from poor cardiac health, having had multiple cardiac angioplasties and both a pacemaker and defib implanted, he lost his life to a poor heart and which caused him to pass away from an infection that his body couldn't fight off, but what caused that heart condition to form?  In seventh grade, one of my classmates' father passed away from a massive heart attack, this man had suffered from polio in his childhood age and wasn't in great health but loved life and was a huge loss to see him pass when we were so young, why was he taken away so early?  In high school, in senior year, one of my friends, his father passed away after a battle with an ailment (I am failing to recall the exact ailment), but what caused that to happen to a man with a loving wife and three children? Lastly, our soldiers overseas, how many men (and women too but I am sticking to men right now) have we seen pass from defending our country?

Reason why I ask all of these questions, is because right now on this another Father's Day I am listening to one of my many Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band DVDs and am pondering why so many men have seen this Promised Land so soon and their wives and children are left to suffer from their loss?

I do believe we are all created equally, ask anyone of my good friends and they will tell you I do not tolerate people who think they are hot stuff, so I am just asking the question why if we are all created equally do men usually die first and witness this Promised Land so much sooner than women?  In the history books, we are always told the men are the hunters and have to be strong and work to survive and keep their families afloat, but much of the time these men are taking away first and this role reversal occurs, where the women now have to become the hunters and the gathers in one.  What causes this increase in male deaths to occur first? 


Is it the pressures of trying to keep the family afloat and make the ends meet? 

Is it the stress of having a family? If this is the case then why is this the way all the creatures are wired? To desire this family and want to share lives with someone else when in the end it just drives a man's health to deteriorate because of the increase in pressures? 


Do men bring it upon themselves by being "unable to share their feelings and keeping stuff inside" thus increasing blood pressure and cholesterol because they are not releasing these feelings and trying to suppress them by eating the foods that make them happy but cause much more harm than good? 

I know witnessing this Promised Land is an inevitable thing, no matter male, female, old or young, I just am curious as to why it routinely happens to men before women? I am no science buff so I have no facts to back these assumptions up, but I am just basing this off of my personal life and my experiences.  


The loss of all the men I have previously mentioned in conjunction with the loss of Clarence Clemons makes me wonder why these respective people are taken many years before the good that they can do on this Earth can be recognized and completed.  For me, my grandfather who I lost in high school, never got to see me complete college, he would have loved to have witness Cornell and its majestic glory and my grandfather who I lost last year left me with the message of "Mike will you please find a lady to marry" (This quote was in some form or another what he said I can't remember exactly but it was the last night I saw him alive and before I left he said this to me and my uncle respectively) because he never got to witness his son marry anyone so he would love to see his family live on, but he is not here to witness that.  Again I am speaking from assumptions, but after reading Clarence's book and knowing what I know about him, I think he would have liked to have performed one more time for his fans and not be taken from them so unexpectedly.  Sure he did leave them with a legacy in performing on Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" track, but still that does nothing to prove his wonderous talents he had with the E-Street Band and his brother Bruce.

Many say these people still are looking down on us from Heaven like Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men say in "One Sweet Day" and P-Diddy says in "Missing You," I do believe they are looking down on us and watching us each day, but I am just wondering what they would say if they got the chance to be here to see these things.

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