A bit late but this thread reminds me of this old tumblr post:
There's going to come a day when we've all grown up, had a career, maybe got married and had kids, when were all going about our daily routine. Maybe you're driving to work with the car radio on, or you're making dinner with the tv on in the lounge. Life as usual, and then we hear a name. It's the name of the person you had a blog dedicated to when you were 16. The person you had posters of up on your bedroom wall, or as your desktop background. The person off that show you used to watch every week, as soon as it came out, or that band you used to love. The person from the cast of a movie that changed your life, or the character who you scrolled through page after page of fanfiction of. You haven't heard that name in a long time, and it brings everything back. And then the name is followed by three words you thought you'd never hear. Has Passed Away. And then you put down the potato peeler and lean back against your kitchen bench, or you pull over to the side of the road, and tears are streaming down your face. And all over the world, there are people who used to be just like you, with tears marking their cheeks and sobs forcing their way out of their throat, because they remember. Because fandoms never really die out. We never really move on. We never really forget. http://dudeufugly.tumblr.com/post/29554687126/theres-going-to-come-a-day-when-weve-all-grown
I mean if someone was old and died you'll find it sad but probably will say "well he/she had a long life" but when a younger person dies because of a illness, accident or suicide that's really shocking.
I was shocked when Robin Williams killed himself last year, because he was brilliant and meant a lot to me when I was younger. And also because suicide out of a mental illness is even worse for me. Everything regarding mental illnesses is very close to my heart.
An older friend of mine once told about the day John Lennon was shot, she was 16 and although she never was that kind of teenager who hyperventilated when someone mention her favourite star, she was devastated like when a very close friend or family member dies. Although the fact that he was shot like in a film makes his death even worse.
When I was a teenager (12 to 18) so around 1992 to 1998 there wasn't someone who died whom I liked so much I was devastated. The only thing that comes to my mind is that a friend and I liked the "Manic Street Preachers" and in 1995 their guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared and hasn't been found til this day. They found his car near a bridge, where in the past a lot of people had killed themselves, but they've never found his body. A situation that is unbearable especially of course for the family, it is very important to have a grave or just certainty that a person is dead.
Interesting topic Vhanja.
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Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from!