Saturday, February 11, 2012

Farewell Jeffrey Zaslow

The tragic, untimely death of author Jeffrey Zaslow in a freak accident yesterday in Michigan, left me shocked and dismayed. Life is fleeting but he made the most out of his relatively short life. He did what he was meant to do in this life and that was to create. That he was taken so suddenly and so brutally, this wonderful man who co-wrote "The Last Lecture" and many other substantial books, is one of the great ironies of life, and I'm sure he would have chosen to make his demise with time to say goodbye to his loved ones if he'd had the chance. Yes he led a full life, yes he knew what was really important but one still feels a deep sense of loss, a feeling of being gypped somehow. He had so much more to give but it wasn't meant to be. May he rest in peace.
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5 comments:

  1. DANIELBLOOMFebruary 13, 2012 at 5:34 AM

    What if Jeffrey Zaslow had not driven to northern Michigan in the winter for a book signing for his latest book, THE MAGIC ROOM, in Petosky? Did he really have to go that far, overnight, just to sign books in a small town? SIGH and REST IN PEACE, JEFFREY: a good man gone too soon!

    i have a differen take on all this here, your POV on my POV? email or comment my blog re

    http://plogspot101.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-if-jeffrey-zaslow-had-not-driven.html

    By dan bloom on February 12, 2012 9:57 PM
    but why was a bestselling author on a cold February morning driving solo to and from a small bookstore in northern Michigan, when he did not have to do such a minor book event for his new book. He could have done an interview on Good Morning America or NPR and any other large media outlet, and he could have had a much different arc in life. It seems so sad and a pity that Jeff had to drive solo in icy conditions from Detroit to Petoskey and back just for a minor minor book signing event.

    yes, That he bothered to go there says volumnes about his own dedication to his fans and readers, so on level, bravo to Jeff for agreeing to go there to sign a few books. But on the other hand, one has to ask his publishers and PR people: why on Earth was this small book event part of his national book tour? What were people thinking? And why did he go?

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    Replies
    1. Beatrice Brusic - Author of Beyond the Snows of the Andes, A Different Journey, Jill and Mickey, Six Months of Wonderful, The Dark Path of Julie E.February 14, 2012 at 10:03 AM

      I thought of that, and all the points you raise are valid, but I guess he was too professional and dedicated to his craft (which a great deal of the part includes marketing) to take a day off due to the weather. He had a commitment and he fulfilled it. In situations like this I think of fate. On hindsight we can always second guess ourselves and say "If only I hadn't taken that plane, if only I hadn't walked out of the house that day," but the truth is that our lives hang by a thread and if he was meant to die that way, he was going to die that way, you know what I mean? I've always had a fatalistic view of life anyway and incidents such as this confirm it.

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  2. DANIELBLOOMFebruary 17, 2012 at 6:38 PM

    Beatrice, thanks for your good and measured response. I am not looking to assign blame for this freak accident of fate, but if you read my new article titled "I do not accept Jeffrey Zaslow's death" you will see what tree i am barking up now. I feel that Jeff might have suffered from what is called "over-functioning" and that he was trying to do too much, pushed by inner demons or inner love, I don't know, but I still feel his death was NOT meant to be, and that he SHOULD be alive. Read my piece and tell me your POV. I am not trying to ram anything down anyone's throat and I am all ears to all POVs, including the very real possibiltiy that i am wrong about all this. Bttw, you used the word FREAK ACCIDENT in your post, and you and I are the only people so far using that term. I know why I used it. But why did you use it? Why was it a freak accident in your POV? My piece here: GOOGLE "I do not not accept Jeffrey Zaslow's death" at Open Salon and blogspot and some other places. I am receiving 99 percent criticism for my outspoken-ness here. Still, I feel that Jeff would understand what I am trying to uncover and discover and show others. Am I right or am i wrong? I don't know. I am working on a hunch, an EQ hunch.

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  3. DANIELBLOOMFebruary 17, 2012 at 6:40 PM

    http://open.salon.com/blog/danbloom/2012/02/15/i_do_not_accept_jeffrey_zaslows_death

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  4. DANIELBLOOMFebruary 18, 2012 at 3:00 AM

    thank you thank you thank you Beatrice for the confirmaion I was looking for on JZ's possible overfunction too-driven personality that MAY HAVE had something to do with all this, re: YOU WROTE:
    ''I think you have a good point here. Writing books is such a competitive field that he may have pushed himself too far to stay on top. He may have seen the lousy weather, felt apprehensive about it, but decided to push himself anyway with fatal consequences. Nobody was going to think any less of him if he cancelled under the circumstances but like you said, he was too driven. I kind of agree with you that this tragic accident didn't have to happen, in fact, I thought of it right from the beginning, so you're not the only one thinking this way.''

    but I have no idea exactly what. but glad to know YOU also thought of all this at the very first of hearing of the tragic news, that maybe IT DID NOT HAVE TO Be....sigh...i have spent the past week trying to piece together the puzzle and still cannot see anything yet...but i am getting hints and clues and your post her helps......most of my email on this has 99 percent angry and hateful of me for even bringing this possibiltiy up and my comments have been censored and delted and banned at New York Times and HuffPost on this issue. weird....people are in denial i think, an american disease

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