Mitch Lucker, frontman of one of the greatest metal bands; Suicide Silence, died yesterday (Thursday 1st November 2012). While out on a motorcycle ride he lost control of his Harley Davidson, hit a light pole and was thrown from the vehicle. He died from the injuries he sustained. I don’t know if it’s because my partner rides a motorcycle or because I’ve been a listener of his music since the band formed in 2002, but I feel such a sense of loss and connection with those loved ones left behind. It seems so scary to me that you can be living life to the full one moment and be gone from it the next. Only hours before his death he’d posted online a picture of himself about to celebrate halloween, and only mere minutes before he’d been riding his motorcycle as if it was any other ride. All those plans that we make, the conscious ones and the unconscious, suddenly have no way of being realised, everything that you think there is time to do… it makes you realise how precious every second is and its sad that it takes someone’s death to reinforce that.
I guess the death of someone we know (personally or not), makes us think about our own mortality and about the mortality of those we love. Humans are so easily killed, as a species we’ve developed no physical guards against death despite our love of adrenaline and frankly dangerous but seemingly everyday activities. Thinking about it terrifies me, death can be caused by something so small and seemingly inconsequential, it doesn’t take a lot to tear through skin, one minute you’re invincible the next your not.
It makes me wonder a lot about God (or whichever deity you believe in) and about the world, when things like this happen to such good people with so much left to give to life. I’m agnostic, and by that I mean I don’t really think about religion and God a whole lot and I have no idea what my opinion is. Is life just a series of chance acts or are they designed and planned? Might there have been one little thing that done differently could have prevented death, the age old thing of time and place, one second later or earlier might it have happened? Or were you destined to die? I guess what I can’t wrap my head around is whether everything is meant to happen, is it all part of some design or is it just pure chance, and I’m not sure which I’d prefer to think. I’m not sure if either explanation makes living with the fact of death any easier.
There isn’t really an answer to any of these things, we just have to live our lives trying to suppress the knowledge of our own impending death, other wise it would cripple us with fear (have a read of White Noise and some Baudrillard if this notion interested you). All we can do is be thankful for every moment we have and cherish the memory of those who are gone from us.
Rest in Peace Mitch Lucker, wherever you are, know that you are sorely missed by many all over the world and you will not be forgotten. My condolences and sympathy go out to your friends, family, and brothers in Suicide Silence. Another huge loss for the metal community and the world.
Mitch Lucker, 1984-2012
justanother helplessday 