Angel wrote:Sushi...Gator and everyone here has lost loved ones, they know how it feels. Just because Gator didn't spend Thanksgiving or a few Friday nights having beers with MJ doesn't mean there is nothing to mourn. The loss of an icon often causes people to relfect on their own life and mortality. It's a reminder that life is short, life is fragile and life is uncertain. It is also a reminder that life is contantly changing, things don't stay the same-as much as we'd like them to sometimes. Gator's (and everyone's) sadness is most likely not just for the loss of MJ the person.
Can't speak for any one else, but I have to say that these recent deaths didn't do anything like that for me. A little sad for a few minutes, sure. Mourning? Definitely not; there's a big difference.
I mourn both my parents on a daily basis - not always with tears, but always with loss. Both my grandfathers too. I've lost far too many friends over the years, and those people too stay with me and are regularly in my thoughts. I didn't need some well-known face to die to remind me that people are mortal. More to the point, before I had to deal with death in my own life, I didn't have a clue what it was like; until my maternal grandfather died I didn't have a clue what losing family was like; until my Dad died, I didn't know anything about what losing someone so close was like. No celebrity death could possibly have given me any kind of insight into those feelings, and to be honest, anyone who claims that it can either hasn't gone through it, or is ridiculously shallow.
Thousands of people killed by a tsunami, children killed in a bus accident, or from a shooting, earthquake victims, fire victims - these are tragedies to make me reflect on the nature of life and death. Not the death of one wealthy, priviledged individual. Particularly one who has been ill a long time, or one troubled throughout his entire life.
To me, this is like hearing that someone I knew in primary school died, or the parent of an old friend I met a few times - I can feel compassion for those truly grieving, and perhaps a little regret at the loss of someone I have known of, but I can't honestly say I am mourning for MJ or FF (or any other celebrity who dies) and it does nothing to remind me of those I lost, or make me any more inclined to think about my loved ones or honour them. Like it or not, this is just another piece of sad news, to be talked over today and maybe a few days more, until the next bit of celebrity gossip comes along.
Why treat life as a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive & well-preserved body? Get there by skidding in sideways, a glass of wine in one hand, chocolate in the other, body totally worn out, screaming WOOHOO! What a ride!