That was a good thought as always Jeri.

Kendall, there are just so many things lost and tastes so widely varied that to try to equate them on any basis is futile. I saw something different in your thought as it applied to me. As I read the responses of others, I often thought, "Yeah, gee, there's that too." And even on subjects which I might not consider so great a loss, they can be an important and significant part of someone elses dreams.

You mention the equating of sports as not too relevant and I see your point. But I think there is another that works well for me in the sports area. Much great art has been lost, art in all forms. We think of music or paintings perhaps, but art takes many forms.....and one of those forms exist in sport. The ability of a human being to take some task as kicking a ball and to learn the mechanics and all to the point that the task, the simple act, becomes an art.

Almost 20 years ago, I stood at the exit of the last turn leading to the main straight at Watkins Glen watching an artist at work. He had no paints, no brushes, no guitars. He sat in the cockpit of an 800 horsepower Can-Am car and his name was Jackie Stewart. Lap after lap I watched that race and 30 other drivers negotiating this all important corner. They were all pros, they all did it far better than the average person could even dream about.........and then there was Stewart. He led that race from the beginning and never encountered traffic in the section of the track I was at, so he was able to set-up for the turn and the straight without encumbrance. Oh, he could pass all right....no problem there. He was better in traffic (and in the rain) than his fellow drivers. But here I had the chance to see something else.

If I had put a dime on the track and a two inch stripe on his left front tire, the stripe would have crossed the dime every time. It was perfection. His hand movements were frugal and very quick and he seemed to be relaxed and confident......and he was on the exact line all the time. Driving is learned. Sometimes its a sport, a task, a job. A very few have become absolute artists. Happily, Jackie retired before anything happened to prematurely end his life as it had for another artist, Jimmy Clark. To me, the loss to age or accident of these greats equals what many may feel about Casals, Renoir, or (select favorite).

Spaw