The good ones always go first

It’s a sad news that greeted me this morning as I checked my yahoo homepage. Patrick Swayze has died at the young age of 57 due to pancreatic cancer. Somehow, this news has affected me more than the death of Michael Jackson. For what reason, I don’t really know.

As far as I can remember, the earliest I’ve seen of Patrick Swayze was from the series North and South. I was forced to watch it as my father borrowed dozens (and I mean, literally, dozens) of betamax tapes (’80’s flashback!) from the neighborhood video rental. It was a story of the U.S. civil war (I think) and my father was predictably hooked. Almost every weekend afternoon was spent in front of the tv, munching on chips and drinking iced tea while watching canons go off. I was still young back then and I couldn’t really understand the plot. But the one thing that kept me watching was Patrick Swayze. He was just darned good looking, the kind you wanted to take home to meet your parents., even as he shows a hidden tendency to become the bad boy you’ve dreamed of taming. I remember asking my father if Patrick really walked with a cane in real life or if it was just his character. I can’t remember now my father’s answer, or even how the story ended. But I do remember Patrick Swayze.

Of course, to the masses, Patrick Swayze is more popularly known as the sexy dance instructor in Dirty Dancing. But, of course, at the time that movie was shown, my parents forbade me from even uttering the title for fear that it might instill dirty thoughts in me (hah!). It was only later on that I had the chance to see it and learn that he can really dance. It wasn’t the kind where actors where taught how to dance so it could be part of the film. Patrick’s moves were graceful and natural. Not to mention that he had a wonderful voice to match his moves.

And then there was the movie Ghost, very controversial back then. I remember it was shown as an R18 movie and I was still below 18. My mother and I wanted so badly to see it that she told me, if I was asked at the cinema entrance about my age, I was to tell I was 18 (even though I was only somewhere 14 to 15 years old). You can tell the movie is good when your own parent teaches you to lie. In any case, I was tall for my age. Nobody at the cinema entrance even bothered to ask me anything. As we watched, I could understand the R18 rating for the movie but what really struck me was the love story that defied death. And Patrick was just the right actor for the role.

Now, Patrick’s really dead. I wonder if he’s still haunting the streets looking for ways to contact the wife he left behind and to tell her he loves her. Patrick Swayze will certainly be missed. But, at least, now, he’s some place else where cancer can’t hurt him. There, he can keep on dancing.