Last week, someone famous died in his hotel room closet, supposedly due to an accident involving autoerotic asphyxiation. I googled this and the result was rather, er, surprising.
Immediately I was reminded of old men who died while having sex, in chinese we call it 马上风. The sadder thing is that more often than not the other party is someone other than their wives and girlfriends.
I guess people do die under all sorts of circumstances, so-called lucky ones die peacefully in their sleep, some lie sickly in bed waiting for death to take over. Others die more adventurously, perhaps in some accident during, say, parachuting, mountain climbing, etc. Of course many die painfully in wars and car accidents and plane crashes.
However, in all of the above, death is nearly expected or could be expected in some significant percentage. There are risks involved.
What about people who died while eating or drinking when they unexpectedly choke? Or having sex? Or masturbating? The risks involved here is definitely low. So low I bet no one saw it coming in any way. Some people may even call it unfair.
Personally, I think it is not entirely a bad thing to die while experiencing pleasure, particularly from the viewpoint of the deceased, though it may cause some unpleasant surprises to the sexual partners involved, and of course to the living relatives who have to do the explanation.
Dying while engaging in sex in some form is awkward, not because of the act itself but what it is associated with. For example, those who died while visiting ladies of negotiable affections died because they consumed some form of medication, which immediately brings one to think of his supposedly unhappy sexual life back at home. Imagine how sad it is for the family to lose a family member, and still have to face these assumptions regarding the circumstances of death. For the deceased, indeed he/she might be experiencing sexual pleasure at the moment of death, which is more than we can say for many other forms of death, but the reputation is forever ruin. No one will remember how you lived, but definitely the way you died.
Then again, for the deceased, perhaps it doesn't matter anymore.
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Apparently, when we die, we lose our senses one by one, and the last one to go would be that of hearing.
I wonder how many died while listening to hysterical cries of loved ones, or to continuous prayers or chantings of religious groups, or to the screams and cries of others around him facing the same peril.
蔡康永mentioned in his blog that perhaps he would come up with a list of his favourite songs to play during his dying moments.
After thinking it over, I think I won't follow his way, because chances of hearing one of my favourite songs unfinished is very, very cruel to the dead me. Another thing is the tremendous amount of songs I love, which means I probably have to 弥留 for a long time before I pass away to finish the list, which is somewhat cruel too.
If I expected my death, I hope there's some sort of respectable silence around me when I die, I don't want to risk someone or something making a sound which may be the last thing I hear, in case it turns out disappointing.
If death is not expected, actually I would rather be enjoying some sort of pleasure than die in agony.
Choking on chocolates sounds good. Potato chips too.
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