With 90 years life behind him – no one expected the old man to live forever. Nonetheless when his Austrian landlord discovered the nonagenarian dead in his bed, it made headlines around the world. The former university professor had not suffered a dramatic death. He had simply died in his sleep – at least three years before anyone knew. Investigators believe the man may have died as many as four years ago, police Lt. Col. George Rabensteiner was quoted as saying. Austria converted to Euro dollars in 2002, the man had only the old Austrian schilling banknotes.
Only an increase in his rent unveiled his death. His landlord enjoyed the regularity of the man’s electronic deposits for rent, but in recent months, he tired of the man ignoring his notices about the increased rental fees. He went to the apartment to talk with the renter.
The pile of junk mail at the door of the apartment should have notified the landlord – and neighbors – that something was amiss. But, fellow residents of the apartment complex apparently did not find it unusual to see junk mail piled up outside the dead man’s door, Rabensteiner said.
By the time the landlord arrived to settle matters with the recalcitrant tenant, the junk mail simply verified his determination to get inside the apartment.
Except for the junk mail and the insufficient rent checks, the deceased was a good neighbor and responsible renter. He did not disturb the neighbors or complain about them. His automatically deposited pension fund allowed his bank to continue to make pay for his utilities and rent. All of which insured that, with no close family or friends, he slipped out of this life, leaving his electronic pulse beating.
It does point out an inherent problem in our quest for the totally paperless society. Click and pay puts us another step away from the real people who provide inherent checks on us every day.
As a recluse he may have lost contact with all who once knew him. At 90 he may have outlived his closest family members. But, neither the neighbors or the mailman questioned the junk mail or the smell of a decaying body nor that they never saw him leave or open his door to accept any deliveries of groceries.
Living around other people means tolerating their presence, sounds, smells and idiosyncrasies which all can be annoying. Nonetheless those annoyances assure us that the other person lives, breathes and continues to hold the potential for positively impacting in the lives of those around them.
If the rent had been collected in the pre-computer age with either a handwritten check or a personal visit, the man still would have died in his sleep – but it would have been at most three or four weeks, not years before he was discovered.
If the mailman or neighbors had taken the time to question why the mail was not picked up, it should have been a matter of days before someone checked on him.
This quiet death should prompt us to renew our vows to check on our neighbors, friends and loved ones.
For those who live alone: Get connected with other people who will then notice your absence.
This is not the first story about a quiet, undiscovered death. It won’t be the last, but it does not have to be your story or your neighbor’s story – if you just take the time to be concerned and involved.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times. She can be reached at joanh@everybody.org.)