Tragedy is the premature destruction of individuals of talent and achievement, accomplishment and potential. It is a measure of our appreciation for the human potential that we have the concept of tragedy.

Do not overuse the word tragic. You do not want to dumb down a concept reserved for shades of greatness. A teen killed while driving drunk is not tragic. It is stupid. The by-stander, who happens to be the town doctor, getting hit and killed in the process, is tragic.

If tragedy were not an exclusive concept, then everyone’s death would be a tragedy. What then is the point of the concept?

Since it would be perverse to call a murderer’s hanging a tragedy, it must refer to those of virtue having their lives cut short.

Thus, tragedy is an exclusive concept whose signature is the life cut short of those whose potential could add to our lives.  The more they could add to our lives, the greater the tragedy.

When washed up politicians or celebrities die, it is hardly a tragedy.  Even when great men die of old age, we do not call it tragic. Tragic is for those young at heart who have something to offer the world, but the world for whatever reason, was not hospitable to their existence.

Lorenz Kraus c 2009

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