m u s i n g s

Warning:

If you are a relative of Whitney Houston or a close friend, my sincerest condolences. You do not have to read this.

In the last couple of days the simpering, outpouring of grief reminds me of the pandemic when Princess Diana died.

Why must we continually do this.

Yes, it is tragic when someone dies. As an older person, I have lost count of relatives and close friends who have died. Simply too many to count. Whether they are taken at a very young age, after a long battle with disease or whether it is sudden, by accident, a suicide or after a ripe old age. Death, although a major part of life, is always sad. We must grieve. However the false epithets, outpouring of mass hysteria and quite disingenuous remarks as witnessed on Social Media channels is embarrassing. It does a disservice to the real grief we all feel when someone close dies. Ms Houston was not close, at all, to most of us. I also think a lot of people have put their grief out there, not to honour Ms Houston, but to get attention for themselves. This is a well-defined pshycological disorder.

I understand why all the mainstream media does this - it sells ads. Lots of ads. "If it bleeds, it leads." I did not make that saying up. They, the media, did.

In the days before shock, tabloid journalism (Is there anything else these days?)  and Social Media, we could happily live our days in relatively remote, peaceful existence, simply worrying about our friends, relatives and loved ones health and happiness. A notice of a celebrity passing would be in the Entertainment Section … maybe on page 3.

When I see this outpouring of faux grief I sit back, puzzled, wondering where we are, where we have come from and where we are going. Saddens me a great deal.

Maybe, the social webs are loaded with misguided folks. Or. maybe just normal people who have a moral compass that is not pointed int the right direction.

Princess Diana, for example, was famous for winning a lottery. She had no qualifications to place her at the pinnacle of respect other than by her marriage to a Bloke in England. Yes, her new found wealth allowed her to get notoriety and bring some light to good causes. Good for her. Other than that, nothing of note. She won a lottery. She neither contributed to higher leaning, science, the arts, the peace process nor really did anything ... but look pretty. And produce offspring.

Ms Houston was an artist and a fine singer. Probably the owner of one of the best voices to come along in years. Other than that? Not much else to hold her up as a heroine, a beacon, a guiding light nor any of the other platitudes gushed in the last few days. I am sad she died. Sad too as she seemed like someone that fame ate up. But fame was not forced on her. It was her own choosing.

There have been hundreds of those. Instead of idolizing these celebs, the Amys, the Michaels, the likes of Elvis, Janis, Jimi, as I said the list is long, should we not get our priorities in order?

"We as a society seem to be the best entertained and the least informed."

Some quick stats:

A total of 158 Canadian Forces personnel have been killed in the war since 2002.

Over 60 million people were killed in WWII, which was over 2.5% of the world population. 45,400 were Canadians.

Between 1961 and 2009, 133 police officers were murdered in the line of duty.

More than 1,000 firefighters have died since 1848 ( I do not have a stat for recent years)

These to me are the real heroes. The ultimate sacrifice inspires me. 

Please shed tears for them.