When is DEATH a triumph and when is it a tragedy?

I don’t think of death as a triumph, (except for maybe Hitler or anyone like him) but as a necessity to life. If no one died than no one would need to be born.
When my father was ill and I first realized that his illness would one day kill him, I told him it was unfair. He said living forever would be unfair to those who would come after him. He said he needed to make room for my children one day. His time would one day over. He explained it like the seasons. Winter was always harsh but spring would always follow with new flowers. And I would love the new flowers just as much or even more than the last flowers.

A death is a triumph when it comes from a fight for justice and is a tragedy when you bring it despite.

It’s always a tragedy for the people who love the person who dies. And it’s never a triumph, I agree with @Pandora, life should always win over death if at all possible, life is the triumph, I think, though there are times when death may be a blessing, if it is a relief from excessive pain and suffering and there is no hope for recovery. And I don’t think a life given in a fight for freedom and justice is really a triumph, it is and act of courage and will perhaps lead to a triumph of justice and freedom over injustice and oppression but is it a triumph? It is a noble sacrifice, not a triumph, I think.

I feel death is a triumph. All of our lives, we work towards death. We make a living, raise children, build homes for our family. And what for? Surely, once we’re dead it doesn’t matter. What’s on the other side is difficult to know, for we’re incapable of visit, but I’d like to think that death is the reward we get for all that we’ve done in life. And depending on how well people did, go onto being happy again or miserable. Death is the satisfaction of the conclusion, the entr’acte. And afterwards, we live the next Act.

Maybe death by euthanasia could be considered a triumph. A death of your own choosing, in your own time, against a terrible illness.

Death is considered triumphant when it’s given martydom status. A pretty high price to pay for posthumous glory in my opinion.

Death is a triumph when you welcome it….a tragedy when you are caught by surprise.

Death is never a triumph.

It is the end of life.

It is a tragedy when it ends too soon.

Of course a death will feel more tragic when you are close to the person. The father of my son’s best friend just passed away over the night. He was in his 40s, a very sweet, kind man that made everyone smile. Cancer got the best of him. He will now be missed at his daughter’s high school graduation in just a few short weeks. Very tragic.

I agree with @marinelife. I can’t think of a moment when death is a triumph. A life ending too soon is tragic.

Death is always a tragedy because it is the death of opportunity. No matter who it is.

Inevitable death due to old age could be triumphant if that life that was just extinguished was lived to the fullest.

Death is a triumph if you’re the grim reaper. Or a serial killer. Or it is putting someone out of permanent misery.

Death is a tragedy most other times.

I agree that death is mostly a tragedy, especially when it’s a child or someone taken too soon, but when it is someone who has had a life well lived, regardless of whether they’re famous or not, and regardless of whether we know it or not, I think that person has triumphed over death because they’ve made such an impact that they are the triumph. One ‘famous’ example I can think of is Randy Pausch. This thread also made me think of this sonnet by John Donne- talking about our eventual triumph over death.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

I’m certain that a whole lot of people will feel that the death of Osama Bin Laden tonight was a triumph.

@augustlan Indeed…indeed…

to me death is simply death. No tragedy, no triumph. just eternal sleep and slumber, eternity without a murmur.

Death is simply the end of life for the person who died, it depends on your feelings and relationship to the person who died to consider it a triumph or a tragedy.

Having administered death to the worst of the worst, I can say that death is a triumph when evil assholes are the recipients. It is a tragedy when when children die of some terrible disease or when their mother puts them in microwave…
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=68d_1305472476