This week, I was going to write about changes that always take place in our lives, how we adjust to them, and why it isn’t so bad that few things in our lives ever stay the same.
I was about one-fourth of the way into my writing when the Facebook told me that Mike Nesmith of the band The Monkees died at age 78 (the guitar player with the green wool hat).
I’m not going to take up your time eulogizing him or spotlighting his music, but I am going to pause and ponder some of the things that have popped into my head upon hearing this news.
Things such as: Why do people mourn when a celebrity dies that they didn’t even know personally? Is social media good or bad for news? And, why do so many people remain attached to echoes of their younger years?
‘She’s a star collector’
Like it seems for every year, several notable celebrities died in 2021.
Along with Nesmith, we lost baseball legend Hank Aaron, broadcaster Larry King, and actress Cloris Leachman.
Did you see the word I used there? “We”.
Just about every article I looked at to clarify and verify who passed this year had the words “we lost” in the title.
Do these individuals become “ours” once they do anything in the public eye that’s memorable?
Their passing doesn’t take away the works that they accomplished on this planet. In many instances, it shines a bigger light on what they’ve done.
We’re going to deal with enough death and loss in our lives, do we really want to add to it by latching onto celebrities who, themselves, are not immortal?
Some things to think about.
‘Find questions, but no answers’
Social media has been making news stories and their ensuing comments immediate.
With a need to be “first,” accuracy and dignity sometimes are non-existent.
We comment on things before knowing the full story or even reading the full story before us.
We have the greatest access to current events and information ever, yet I think don’t we really know what to do with it all.
It’s easy to click “share” and “like,” but how easy is it to accurately communicate to others what we are “liking” and “sharing”?
Are we immersing ourselves in information that is good and truthful?
Who can we trust when it comes to getting the word out?
Can we trust ourselves?
Some things to think about.
‘When the world and I were young’
Back to Mr. Nesmith’s death, many of the early online comments I saw were from those who were fans of The Monkees from their original heyday in the 1960s.
A few lamented another reminder of getting old.
I’m no different and I will be no different going forward. I already lament some signs of that.
No matter how old we get — 28, 38, 48, 58, 68 — we’ll always carry some fond memories of childhood and older youth.
Even though I no longer patronize Chuck E. Cheese, I’d still be sad if all of its locations closed for good.
I’m still a little bummed that the student section at UW-Madison sporting events isn’t known as the “Grateful Red” anymore, even though I graduated from there 15 years ago.
“AreaRED” is ok, I guess, if that’s what the current students want.
Is it good to hang onto the past and then be saddened when reality hits that the past is just that, the past?
What do we lose by not going forward to the next grand adventures in our lives?
Are we missing out on anything, or are things always worse with “kids these days,” regardless of which generation you were born into?
Some things to think about.
If you’ll excuse me, I have some music to spin.
It’s 2021, and there’s a lot to think and pray about.