Death.

An inevitable for us all. It shows no favoritism, does not care about one's wealth or poverty, race, gender, age, whom we married or divorced, or what type of dwelling we called home. It will be the last thing we do, as the oxygen, blood and brainwaves stop moving throughout our mortal bodies. And once we have gone away, people will remember us for who we were, the good qualities we possessed throughout our life. The fun times we shared with our surviving friends. The time spent together cherished and recalled fondly by our family members that we have left behind. Death has an interesting way of transforming even the crankiest, strangest, least agreeable person into someone worthy of sainthood. It is as if crossing over from this life to what is beyond lends way to a clean slate - a brushing away of all the faults we had possessed in our lives.

Unless, of course, you do something really stupid to cause such an event to take place before allowing nature and destiny to do its thing.

There are some tragic ways to die. There are painful ways to die. Some people might agree that there are easy and quick ways to die, probably what most of us would hope will be the case when our time comes. But aside from all these, there are some really stupid ways one's life can end. Then what? Are we remembered for the character we were in life? Or will survivors mention our name, and not be able to get past the absurd fashion of our death? Will the 10, 25, 42, 98 years we spent on earth only be forgotten labors which led up to the ridiculous way we caused ourselves to be no more?

Death resulting from texting while driving. This wasn't even an issue when I was a teenager. Now, 49% of 16 and 17-year-olds admit to texting while behind the wheel. So almost HALF of all new, inexperienced young drivers don't even have their eyes on the road. And drunk driving is more frowned upon? The teen fatalities in car crashes are at an all time high, more and more, it turns out, due to cell phone distraction. And sadly, this is preventable. A ridiculous way to die, when the driver just has to drive, and not send text messages while doing so. So when will it be illegal to text while driving? How many idiots have to die?

Death by auto-erotic asphyxiation. Anything damaging to one's body that results in the need to get off is pretty silly. What would your grandmother think? Of all the dangerous things to do, strangling, electrocuting, impaling or crushing yourself in an effort to get your rocks off has 'not a good idea' written all over it. And if you are wearing something inappropriate for Sunday dinner at mom's, an even worse idea - think of the poor soul that finds your body! And what if it is mom? Or worse: your poor grandmother.

Death from the improper use of tampons. This isn't Toxic Shock Syndrome (that would be with the tragic, senseless deaths, nothing to joke about). There was a man in 1996 that, in an effort to alleviate his snoring, stuffed a couple of tampons into his nose. He suffocated. Oops.

Death from falling off a bull and subsequently being crushed by the beast. I don't even think I need to explain the stupidity of riding, or even being anywhere near an animal that is prone to aggression. And who was the idiot that decided that riding a bull was an acceptable form of entertainment? I even read an article a few weeks back about a poor 12-year-old meeting this fate. Could this be considered a form of child neglect resulting in death? What parents in their right minds would allow their child to climb onto the back of an enormous, wild, angry animal, with sharp horns protuding out of the side of his head? As a parent myself, I would take my offspring and run away from the bull.

The list could go on and on and on. Everyday, it seems there is someone demonstrating a new, stupid way to die, through improper use of products, risky behavior, or just plain ignorance of human mortality. I've written this hub not to be disrespectful of the dead, but to make the living aware that there is a lot to be considered before partaking in behaviors that may seem dangerous, risky, or hazardous to one's life span. Are they worth dying for? Do you want to be known as the person that died from <insert idiotic behavior here> ? Or would you prefer that people remember you by all the decent, reasonable, normal things that you did? While death may be inevitable, we can all take some preventative measures to assure our death is a death, and not an example of sheer dim-wittedness.