Rich Piana dead at 46.

It has not been a good week in the world of bodybuilding.It's been pretty brutal actually.
The fact that Rich Piana succumbed to the head injury he suffered a few weeks ago isn't really a shock.If you hear someone has been placed in a medically induced coma,it's often unrecoverable.
It's brain damage,or death.
I'm not going to pretend I was a fan of the man.I had watched a few of his videos.But he wasn't my cup of tea.I'm not into the hardcore biker/rock star/tat freak look.
But I believe that he loved the weightlifting life.He really wanted to be a bodybuilder.
When he didn't become a champion,he just decided to do it his way.
That did involve the heavy use of drugs.Unfortunately he had dependency issues with a number of substances.That would be the diplomatic way to put it.
He was a grown man.He owned his own life.He made his choices.
If what some neuroscientists say about the human brain is true,we will tend to follow our deepest course.In effect we posses less real free will than we like to believe.I admit I don't like to believe we don't make real choices.
I'll try to see people as what they work to be.At least try to give them credit for the will they activate in their lives.Piana poured himself into getting huge,and pumped up,and popular.He had a big personality,and attitude,and a temper.
He excited a lot of people.If that got some young people excited about bodybuilding,then good.
I hope they find the reward in it.
Piana was an extremist.He used too much,pushed too hard,lived bigger than life.There will be people who burn bright,and too short.They do find what they love,and they do let it kill them.
So I hope the guy enjoyed his wild ride.

I'll leave with an old poem by a lady who may have understood the feeling.

                                       "My candle burns at both ends
                                         It will not last the night;
                                         But ah,my foes,and oh,my friends -
                                         It gives a lovely light.

                               
                                                                           Edna St.Vincent Millay