R.I.P. Bernie Mac

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough died yesterday morning, at the age of 50, from complications due to pneumonia. Like many others in the Philly area, I found out as I was driving to Target to run my Saturday errands. Boyz II Men's It's so hard to say Goodbye to Yesterday had just finished playing, when the radio host announced that he had massed earlier this morning. What an odd way to go out - pneumonia complications. I know that, especially in America, we tend to take for granted medical advances that have helped mankind overcome diseases we now consider almost trivial. I mean, how many people do you hear of dying from pneumonia? or strep throat? Thank God for the variety of antibiotics, as well as basic and advanced medical procedures that have helped increase life expectancy rates. However, this loss of such a talented, and relatively younger, life serves as a reminder. A reminder of how fragile life is, of how tomorrow is not guaranteed.

So, here's to the late Bernie Mac. An Original King of Comedy, whom many of us grew up with on television through his show, The Bernie Mac Show (which I still watch in syndication). And to memorable roles such as Bosley and Frank Catton in the Charlie's Angels and Ocean's Eleven remakes. Despite any recent negative publicity Mac might have created in the Obama campaign (which was simply a matter of poor taste for the occasion), all remember him as an upstanding male role model in the Black community. A great comic and a lovable guy, Bernie Mac will always be remembered.