True, but compromising part of what made him great and sticking around 'because you might miss something' would also be the antithesis of how he lived his life until that day. He wrote the following quote when he was quite young, about a baseball player IIRC:

"Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of the rat race is not yet final."

I find it quite interesting he became the embodiment of this himself. His attitude of "Buy the ticket, take the ride" is what he embodied until the day he died and knew the ride was over.

I personally would have loved to see him live on. Especially with regard to the end of the Bush presidency and further actions in the middle east.