Death Comes In Threes – the 2009 Edition

I wrote about the superstition a couple of years ago… death comes in threes. I suppose I was somewhat dismissive of that belief at the time. And I still really don’t believe it. But with the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson within days of each other, one can certainly understand why people say such things. In some ways, each of these celebrities was an iconic figure and yet it should not be particularly surprising that any of them would pass. McMahon was elderly and had a host of health problems recently, Fawcett fought a well publicized battle with cancer and Jackson, ever the subject of rumor and speculation, had health problems of his own and recently appeared unusually weak and frail (despite planning a comeback tour soon).

The tabloid mill is, I assume, churning out countless stories and far fetched scenarios about each of them… especially Jackson. Celebrity is a strange thing. These people were no better nor worse than any of us. They led lifestyles that most people could barely dream of and they, possibly, did things that many of of would not do. They definitely had talent and each had notoriety and fame to varying degrees. But tens of thousands of people have died within the past few days. Perhaps they were not nearly as famous as our current “three” but I am certain that a good number of them were extraordinarily talented in some way. Quite a few a them may have done things that would they would rather not publicize but many others positively influenced quite a number of other lives. Some of them led exemplary lives and all of them will be mourned by someone.

I cannot escape the thought that there is some common ground here… each of these recently departed celebrities, despite living in the limelight for much of their lives, were in fact individuals. They had privates lives and families and friends and loved ones and aspects of their personal lives that we will never know. The public will briefly mourn their passing and memorialize them with sound bites and slick retrospectives – or or it will examine every flaw, sin and mistake. Meanwhile, their families and friends mourn their passing in relative privacy for months and years to come… just like the families of so many others who have have passed on.

I can think no other thoughts than sympathy and love for all those who have lost family members and friends. Pray for their comforting.