Sense of proportion

[lederhosen]

Keith Miller died, age 84. He was one of Australia's great cricketers, although he missed five years from his career flying fighters in WWII. There are a great many stories about him as a cricketer, but usually that wouldn't rate a mention here - I'm not a sports fan. No, the reason I have a soft spot for him is that he had a sense of proportion sadly lacking among sports stars. As he demonstrated, when asked by an interviewer how he dealt with pressure on the field:

"Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse."

On death, at age 75: "Never think about it. No regrets. I've had a hell of a good life. Been damned lucky."

I hope I go out like that, when the time comes :-)

Comments

The penny drops...

[drzero.livejournal.com]

I remember that story from Michael Parkinson, when he was interviewed by Andrew Denton.

[djfiggy.livejournal.com]

Does seem like a great way to end up.
And hey, 75 isn't bad. I've only known one person who ever got higher than 90 years of age, and he kept insisting he wanted to die, until he went completely bonkers around age 95 and died at 96. I understand when people want to come up with medical breakthroughs to increase human longevity, but if living an incredibly long time means just being horribly decripit or insane longer than the average person who has the luxury of being a senior citizen, I sometimes wonder what it's all for.