Is it true "only the good die young" and if so, would you rather be good or live a lonnnnnng life?

They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait. Some say it’s better but I say it ain’t. I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The Sinners are much more fun.

No, it’s not true. It’s chance. There have been some wonderful very old people: Studs Terkel, for one, who just died recently.

Come out Virginia, don’t make me wait. You Catholic girls start much too late…

I guess we have to sing along now…..I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. Sinners are much more fun”....

Everyone!:

Oh darn, I really don’t know this song that well, do I?

Depending on who you ask, I should already be dead, or live forever.

herodotus said, a long time ago (5th century BC), “Whom the Gods Love Die Young.”

That is catchy, but, like your aphorism, is too simplistic.

Personally, I believe that the good people far outnumber the bad people, so, yeah, the good die young, but they also die, middle-aged and old as well.

I like to be good overall, but not too good. Uptight sticks-in-the-mud are no fun at all!

According to Billy Joel, ‘Only the Good Die Young’ and I don’t subscribe to his views, personally.

When I’m good, I’m really good and when I’m bad, I’m even better. What that translates into for me is that I’m sensational and in great health and I’m going to live forever.

Hey, Blue, if you’re going to quote Mae West, ya gotta announce it to the youngsters here, who never actually saw her movies.

Let us know where you found the Fountain of Youth. I’d due for a dunk.

I’m a youngster who knows Mae West!

edit: “to some of the youngsters here.” @as: you have an old spirit.

And entirely off-thread; my mother was in one of Mae West’s movies (She Done Him Wrong) in either 1932 or 1933.

@gail: I absolutely love it when people tell me that, I consider a very nice compliment, Thank you. Who was she in that movie? I’m dying to know!

I’m not a fan of long life as much as quality of life. When quality is done, please pull my plug.

@as: she was a Floradora girl, dressed in a huge hat with plumes, black fishnet stockings and a corseted black, flounced dress. Primarily a dancer (and very photogenic) she and five other girls dance in the first ten minutes of the movie. Actresses were plumper in those days..They were all curvaceous.

@gailcalled: I would have killed for that costume and part. I’m gonna go track it down. :)

@as; I’ll do some research but not now.—

We also have a glossy photo of her sitting on an upright piano. Jimmy Cagney, his hair parted in the middle and slicked down with brilliantine, is the pianist. And she was in several of the Busby Berkeley films

@gailcalled: great information…but um, do you mind sticking to the topic. We get it that you’re “old” (ie ancient). I’m sure most of us feel that way ourselves sometimes. So would you rather laugh with the sinners or cry with the saints already? turning into a mummy waiting for her answer…

Haha, I like it. Let it be.

I gave you my response above^^. Questions that require black or white answers are unanswerable to me. (And it is my mother who is ancient, i.e. very old.)

lurve for being classy

@gailcalled: Can you please provide me with your decoder so that I can decipher your response.

Does anyone have a decoder handy???? Anyone??

@Siren: Gailcalled’s response
herodotus said, a long time ago (5th century BC), “Whom the Gods Love Die Young.” That is catchy, but, like your aphorism, is too simplistic.
seems pretty clear to me. It seems she is saying what others have said as well…the good don’t necessarily die young.

so “too simplistic” = untrue? Sorry, but it’s as clear as mud to me. Whatever, I get it. Now. Thanks. Great response. Two fluthers at ya. We need a holiday for this gal!

Not untrue, just not necessarily true, or not always true, if you prefer.

“Fairness does not govern life and death, if it did, no good man would ever die young. ”

i’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints….

Surely no one believes that “being good” (however you, personally, define that) impacts the schedule for one’s death. That saying probably speaks more to the tendency to remember only good things about those who have passed than it does to causality.

If it were true (Big if) Be Good. It’s not hard to be good and have a great life.

No, I’m sorry to say, this saying was invented by a person who was trying to ease the anguish of a person who had experienced an untimely death of a loved one.

No, of course it’s not true. Most of the people in my family live well beyond the norm. I plan to live to be 100 and I’m just about 100% good.

EVERYONE must breathe until their dying breath.

When I think of that phrase “only the good die young” what I think of is that those who died young may not have had the chance yet to be bad, and in that sense those that die young were good. I wouldn’t say the phrase is true, because youth is relative and I’m sure there are plenty of examples of “bad” people that have died before they got “old”.

That phrase only reminds me of the Billy Joel song and thank you very much to those of you who posted the lyrics. I can’t read lips through the radio, LOL Now I can sing it right. :-)

Anyway, my thoughts are that when you’re job is done here on this plane of existence, that’s when you die and move on. I’ve heard and read that we pick our exit points before we are born. Sometimes it’s the first exit point we take and sometimes it’s the last, unfortunately we don’t know it until it comes.

Interesting comment Maryleedy. Would you mind sharing what the source of the “exit points” saying is, if you know it?

@siren I’ll have to look through my collection of Sylvia Browne’s books. She talks about exit points in most of her books. I read them during a difficult time in my life and found them comforting and eye-opening. She may have mentioned exit points on Montel Williams too since I always missed the first half of the show, I can’t say for certain. Would you like me to let you know exactly which books of hers? I can do some research since I have about 10–12 of her books. :-) It won’t be a problem, just PM me and let me know.

@maryleedy: No need to go through all that trouble, but thank you for offering. If it is Sylvia Browne I can just google her if I want to look into it further. I was just curious if it was a religious philosophy, or someone’s philosophy, etc.

To me it just sounded like a very eloquent way of describing the life and death scenario. Thanks again for sharing.

@Siren you’re very welcome. TY for the kind words too. :-)

this was a test, ignore it

@Jayne Did you pass?

‘Only the good die young’?

How do you account for Ted Kennedy?

If that’s a rule, then there are a lot of exceptions.

If it’s true that the “Good” die young, then all of us here who can type are pretty bad folks…............and goin’ to hell in a hand basket!..........We’re doomed!

I Don’t believe in Good and Bad people or that the “Good” die young. We all do things that are good and we all do things that are bad. Perception and reality are two different things. People we percieve to be good are not always good and people we percieve to be bad are not always bad. Everyone will die regardless of how many people like them or don’t like them. I think that life is a series of problems to solve and we all do the best that we can. Some die young and some die old but we will all eventually be forgotton so don’t live your life trying to make other people happy if it means that you are unhappy in the inside. We only have one life to live and you don’t want to die knowing that you did or didn’t do something that made you happy because you wanted someone else to think you are “Good.”