It’s interesting how we mourn the death of a celebrity. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Whitney Houston passed away over the weekend and since the news broke, I’ve heard her music in bars, seen her videos on tv and there are too many posts on Twitter and Facebook about her to count. We all seem to feel a loss, an emotional connection to this stranger whose celebrity persona and accomplishments touched our lives, however distantly.
And this is not a new phenomena; from John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe, to Chris Farley, Aliyah, Heath Ledger or Michael Jackson... when a celebrity dies, particularly a sudden death, we gravitate to the “story” and feel loss even though the gross majority of us never met or knew these individuals personally. Is it that we are fascinated by their downfall as much as their success? Is it that their pop culture contributions are so a part of our own memories that we feel the loss on a personal level? Whatever the reason, it’s amazing that these famous strangers have made their way into our hearts. Rest in peace celebrity "friends" and thank you for your contributions to our lives.
