ZD,
Then his point.wouldn’t have been made. It seems you disagree with his point, but why is his making it haughty?
Avram, I think we assume that dying because one is a Jew is a tremendous z’chus. R’ Akiva could have also died as you describe, but we assume it was a bigger z’chus to die the way he did.
Why can’t dying in his sixties be the time he was supposed to, yet still be a kapparah?