BFT Version 3.0 - Mourning in America

I was listening to the radio about a month ago, one of the sports shows I so often listen to in my free time. As a rule, I tend to not listen to political talk shows as I like to enjoy the radio and listening to politics is too much like the work I already do, and while I love doing radio, I don't want to drown in it, so people talking about sports instead is a nice diversion. Still, as I am listening to a show, the host is interviewing Tracy McGrady, who is a basketball player with the Houston Rockets. Through the course of the discussion, Tracy talked about what he did in the offseason, which was take a trip to some of the war torn regions of Africa. This made my ears perk up, as it seemed to be an unusual place for an athlete to take a vacation. He proceeded to talk about a village he visited, where in order for families to have food and water, they have to send out the adults to the hills in order to find sustenance. The problem being, in the hills are the people that are ravaging their village, so if the men go out, it is likely they run the chance of being killed, the women are only a little more fortunate, if they are caught, they are only raped, as if that is some consolation knowing you haven't been killed, only violated. I was struck by the story and felt empathetic to those people who have to make a decision like that every day, that simply providing for one's family is a deadly proposition.

This type of story will get no play here, it isn't pretty enough. Instead we were stuck with the endless drivel the last couple of weeks of the death of Heath Ledger. Did Mr. Ledger do something worthy of such attention, besides overmedicate himself? Not really unless you consider playing a good gay cowboy on screen to be some sort of earth shattering achievement. Don't get me wrong, I like movies and all, but they fall along the same lines as sports for me, they are nice distractions, but at the end of the day, that is all they are, distractions. Neither of which is along the lines of curing cancer, or putting your life in danger so that your kids may eat. Yet we were bombarded with news coverage of Ledgers death, and the body being sent to Los Angeles, and the mourning taking place there, and everyone's kind words of him on his passing, and so on and so on. I am sorry, but I just can't garner up any sympathy for someone who brought about their own death under less that stellar circumstances. If I want to see people run the risk of overdosing, there are plenty of abandoned, boarded up homes within walking distance of my place that serve as the crack den du jour. Yet the inhabitants of such a place aren't known for their acting ability so their overdoses are far less compelling, even if they are equally lethal in their outcomes.

I'm sorry, but romanticizing someone's death simply because of who they are with no regard for how they died seems to be a little too simplistic for my tastes. I can't get choked up over Heath Ledger, just as I couldn't get choked up over Kurt Cobain, or anyone else whose behavior ultimately leads to their own demise. One may think that if this would hit closer to my home maybe I might have a different opinion, but I don't think so, simply because I have already been down that path when my brother committed suicide. Maybe I should have felt different, but to me it was simply a coward's way out, and I can't get choked up over something like that. I would rather save my sympathy for those that are suffering rather than those that are selfish. So a brief memo to the future Heath Ledger's out there, waiting for people like me to mourn their passing, I can quit you, more than likely I will not even start you, as starting to mourn you is just a waste of my time.