Michael Vedviks obituary blamed the Seattle Seahawks last-minute loss of Februarys Super Bowl for his untimely demise one day after the game.

The wife of the Washington state man said her freshly dead husband, 53, would have found the gallows humour hilarious.

People find a lot of different ways to deal with lifes inevitable endings, whether its losing football games, jobs, relationships, friends or, someday, their own time on this planet.

One often-useful response to the fear of loss is humour. As Woody Allen said, I dont fear death. I just dont want to be there when it happens.

In addition to jokes, however, psychology, philosophy and spirituality are also employed to come to term with the tragedy, as the ancient Greeks put it, that things fade.

Facing up to loss and death is the central theme of Easter, which the worlds two billion Christians this weekend.

The story of the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who came to be known as the Christ, or Messiah, takes on lifes most profoundly difficult challenge.

To deal with the fact that every special person, every wonderful experience and everything we love in this world will eventually end, Christians say Easter teaches that death is not the final word.

Even though human lives are full of passion and creativity, existence also entails, as the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead put it, perpetual perishing.

Its no wonder so many look to humour to face the angst.

Excerpt from:
Douglas Todd: Facing up to loss - psychology, philosophy and the Easter story