November 25, 2005


Best is buried while still alive

George Best is not – yet – dead, but this morning’s newspapers, radio news and breakfast television programmes have effectively been running his obituaries.

News bulletins are reporting that the former star footballer is unconscious, so it is improbable that he has had the questionable honour of knowing what is being said about him.

Although it is probably wrong to censure his doctors for revealing that Best’s life was coming to a close, their candour has allowed the obituaries to appear with what really does seem to be “indecent haste”.

Only those closest to Best will ever know whether they read him what was in the papers today, or relayed what the broadcasters were saying.

It would be nice to think that despite the unconsciousness, his brain was functioning sufficiently for him to appreciate the expressions of love, respect and affection that were so fulsome.

Coverage of Best’s demise also raised other questions about our views of death.

One radio reporter’s voice piece mentioned that his family were at his hospital bedside waiting for the “worst”. Waiting for the end? Yes. But waiting for the “worst”? Not necessarily.

Is death the ultimate in badness that can happen to us? The dying process may be, but not death itself, surely?

How often do we ourselves say, or hear at funerals, “it was a blessing”? Or “it was a relief”?

We may be trying to ease our own grief, but there is the simultaneous admission that death, in its own right, may not have been the “worst” option facing the deceased.

The attitudes towards life and living, promoted primarily by theologians, may have much to commend them.

Indeed, such views may have become more entrenched during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but this should not be at the cost of asking the question about whether life is better than death “at all costs”.

George Best’s life since he retired from football has been presented as one of alcohol, and trauma, broken relationships and dismay. That may not be the entire truth.

However, whatever battles this man has faced – in personal relationships or unsuccessfully fighting his addiction – there should be one more realistic and sensitive hope as his body breathes its last this morning: that he does find a peace in which to rest.