When stars die, most recently Robin Williams, it makes us feel really bad inside. Yes, someone else in the world has died today, but how were we to know? I felt awful last night when I realized that another one of my childhood icons was gone. I prayed for his family. I prayed for everyone who died that day and days before. I prayed for people with depression and anyone who is suicidal. The reason we're all so sad is because we grew up hearing, seeing, and reading the works of these icons. They made us laugh, they voiced our favorite character, they gave us words to live by, or they made our favorite movie. They stuck with us, and watching them do what they did and reading what they put on paper for us to read made us happy when we were down.
My grandfather died a few weeks ago. He and my grandmother were divorced, so we would visit him only once in a while when we went to visit her. That one day we visited though would be so much fun. He lit up a room, and he loved us all. At his funeral the man speaking said so many things about him. He was a wonderful man, and "never met a man he did not like." He mentioned that we, his four grandchildren, were the apples of his eye. That he loved his daughters so much. That even if it is hard for a father to give his little girls away to another man when they get married, my grandpa loved his son-in laws. He loved everyone, and he was so cheerful.
I'm mentioning this because these people who spent their lives working to make others happy will always be remembered as that: happy. Mourning is something we all do. Mourning the loss of someone you never knew is near impossible if there is no media coverage. People unfortunately die, no matter how much we want them around. When other's criticize a person for mourning the loss of a star, it feels a little sad to me. They may have known someone who died recently in a very terrible way. They may have never had the chance to see the movies or shows or read any of their works. They may not think it's a terrible loss. I can understand that. Everyone deserves to be mourned by someone, and if it's covered by the media or not, it's sad no matter what. All we can do is pick ourselves up and keep going, since that's what the person would want.
