Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It always makes me pause...

How is it that celebrities have such an impact on our emotions. A few moments ago my wife told me about the death of Heath Ledger. My heart feels heavy.

I'm not a real fan. Honestly, it will be hard to miss him because I don't know him. But I think it reminds me of death. Headlines and news bytes won't let us forget it until something hotter moves the story to the back burner. So, for the next few days, every level of American culture will think about death. Everyone will think about their own mortality. People will ask why and how and walk away with unanswered questions about life. We'll each think or form or revisit an opinion about the Afterlife.

Any thoughts?

 

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

First-blush response (not necessarily the same as "thought"): I think most people, at least until they start noticing their bodies breaking down, live under the delusion of their own immortality. I lost a baby sister in her first year, an ex-boyfriend at age 17, some college friends in our 20's, and other friends in our 30's. I lost that particular delusion a long time ago.

I refer to it as a delusion because an MSW told me, maybe 35 years ago, that (I think) Freud identified three delusions common to mankind: A belief in their own charm, a belief in their own immortality, and ... I forgot the third.

I think my family knocked the one about charm out of me pretty early.

Anonymous said...

He was so young...his life is over; his eternity sealed. It makes me very sad. I loved the characters he played in The Patriot and A Knight's Tale. I hope somehow he met Jesus before he left this world.

Jan Arant

Mike West said...

When people have no hope...that's what makes me sad.