The Last Laugh

I was very sad waking up to find that in the news, George Carlin, one of my favorite comedians ever (definitely the in the top 5 stand-up comedians ever), passed away...er...DIED...Sunday night (he hated that euphemism). He died of heart failure after being admitted to St. John's Health Center earlier that day, complaining of chest pains. He was 71.

I tried to look at Carlin through my unusual viewpoints, but it was hard considering he was such an inspiration for me. So, instead, I'll just mention these key points and then go watch some of his stand-up clips on the youtubes:

• I can't believe he's dead. I mean, I just saw George Carlin yesterday. Damn, it didn't help.
• I'm going to keep George Carlin in my thoughts. The only problem is I don't know where my thoughts are...
  
• Heart failure? I lost my grandfather the same way. I guess I need to still look for him.
• You might say he's smiling down at us now, but I say he's far too busy with other celestial activities to be "smiling down at us." I just hope that he's not smiling UP at us.
• George Carlin better be sitting on a cloud, taking a harp lesson. He worked so hard on Earth, that he definitely earned a break.

I guess, though, in the end, George Carlin has the last laugh on death. Because anything that people will say or do in the following grief-period, Carlin has already commented on. I suppose the only thing we can do about George Carlin's death is to look back on his hilarious comedy, remember what he stood for, and to continue to critically think about our past, present, and future societies.