Natasha Richardson, RIP

You know, I am aware that in this world of six + billion people, thousands upon thousands of people die unfair deaths every single day. I'm also aware I live in a celebrity-obsessed culture that often fixates on a celebrity to the exclusion of much more important things.

However. That being said, I am really just devastated by this poor woman's death. I don't even know why. It's not like I was especially into her or her acting. Certainly I knew who she was, and that she came from an acting dynasty. Perhaps it's because we're close in age, and her death seems like a freakish accident that could happen to any of us - and we don't even have to be taking a ski lesson. One small slip in the bathroom...

I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. I'm highly strung out and emotional. Maybe that's it. Some things are happening in my life making me feel highly out of control already. Perhaps seeing someone who is apparently fine and talking one hour and probably dead the next is just a bit disconcerting. Are we all just one little fall from the abyss?

I don't know and I don't even feel like analyzing why I am so saddened over this stranger's death. Was it Stalin that said "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic"? Perhaps this one death is just easier for me and my Western European-bred, American-raised mind to wrap itself around.

Life sucks. It's unfair. Kids get cancer. People get run over in the street. They die of starvation on a planet with plenty of food and are killed by falling trees and IED's and suicide bombers. They die on the bunny slopes of a ski resort. I know better than to look for fair in this world.

God Bless her sons. To lose a parent at any age is a devastating loss. To lose a parent when you are 12 or 13 years old - I can't imagine it. Especially losing your mother...and God Bless everyone who lost someone yesterday. Not everyone will receive the massive coverage this one woman will. But I know there are many, many hurting people out there.