It can certainly feel like good people tend to die young, and these cases often garner a lot of attention and emotional impact. However, it's essential to understand that the belief that good people predominantly die young is more of a cognitive bias than a statistical reality. This perception is influenced by various factors:
Emotional impact: When someone who is perceived as a good person dies young, it creates a more profound emotional response. We tend to remember such cases more vividly, leading to the perception that it happens more frequently.
Selective attention: The media often highlights stories of young, good people passing away unexpectedly because they attract more attention and empathy from the public. Numerous deaths occur daily, but not all receive the same level of media coverage.
Subjective assessment of "goodness": People may attribute positive qualities to those who die young and overlook any flaws or mistakes they might have had. This idealization can contribute to the perception that only good people die young.
Mortality rate: Statistically, people of all kinds, good and bad, young and old, face the risk of death. Death is a natural part of life, and it can affect anyone, regardless of their character or age.
Sample size and exposure: Personal experiences and the people we know are often limited in number, leading to a skewed perspective. When a person knows more instances of good people dying young than the opposite, they may mistakenly assume it's a common pattern.
It's important to remember that life is unpredictable, and death can occur at any age, regardless of a person's goodness or morality. While it's natural to seek meaning or patterns in seemingly random events, the notion that good people predominantly die young is not supported by objective data.