If there is anything good to say about a terminal cancer diagnosis, it would be that you have some time left to arrange your financial affairs, say your good-byes, weep with and comfort your loved ones as yourself. Much better than the many unexpected and tragic ways other people die every day.

There is an old sailor's humorous adage that the two best days in a boater's life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it.

If you take the Obituary page or any cemetary at face value, the two best days in a human life are the day you're born and the day you die. Those are the two days all human cultures actually revere and most honor.

Unfortunately, our gift of human life ironically precludes our own individual ability to appreciate the two most revered days in each of our own lives. We just don't remember those two days.

So, while it is right to grieve and feel saddened for two remarkable individuals, appreciate the joy of their upbeat and knowing passing. We should all be so lucky.