I would like to live in a world where we bestow tributes, remembrances and adulations for a person well before he or she dies, rather than on the day following his or her passing. Tens of thousands gathered to mourn the loss of Nelson Mandela and celebrate his being, when he could no longer appreciate such a gesture.
The Kennedy Center Honors and the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Academy of Motion Pictures are rare examples of organized public tribute to fellow humans while they are still alive. We need more celebrations of this kind. I think Peter O’Toole and Johnny Cash would have agreed, as would our own friends and loved ones.