They Are People Too

From afar we worship them. Actors, Athletes, Politicians. We follow their exploits through People magazine, the E Channel, and on websites like TMZ. If it is someone we truly admire we share in their good fortune. If something ill happens to one that we don't particularly like, a perverse happiness seems to invade our soul.

Are we bored with the mundane things of life? Are we weary of our day to day chores? Psychiatrists and other surveyors of the human condition attempt to figure out why so many of us are enamored of the famous. Whatever the reason, there is no end to the celebrity news that keeps our attention. We will never meet Brittney, Lindsay, or Paris but we think we know them. We see snippets of their lives as they run to and from the cameras that follow them when they leave their private lairs.

But it is days like this one, that the shock hits us. These celebrities are people too. They have good days and lousy ones. They might have close friends and then again they might be extremely lonely. Their careers can be on the rise or they can be looking for meaningful work. The truth is we do not know and when you really analyze things, what happens to these people is none of our business.

So it was sad to hear that a good looking, talented twenty-eight year old from Australia died today. The gossip mills will keep Heath Ledger's name in the news as coroners dig into his once vibrant body to find the cause of death. Even if drugs (prescribed or otherwise) are found to be the root cause, we will never truly know if young Mr. Ledger accidentally ingested them or if some internal problem led him to take his own life. We will mourn for a day or so. We will go to see his new Batman movie. We will listen for the juicy info about how his death took place. But then we will move on to the news about someone else.

For a moment we are all pausing to remember Heath Ledger. But we never knew him. His parents, siblings, former wife, and close friends will mourn for him for a long time. And that is how it should be. Celebrities are no different than us. They live and die within a small circle of acquaintances and are pushed to and fro by the same forces that attack and attract all of us. May we honor Heath Ledger by giving his family and friends the space they need to reflect and then move on with their own lives.