Monday, July 25, 2011

To the Rehab in the sky.

In an age of tragic death being as common as the sun rising every morning, we are still very emotional and heartfelt beings when it comes to the subject. We do not need to have personally known someone who has fallen to be affected by their loss. Celebrities are the case in point; when Princess Diana died, her funeral invited mourners from across the globe that cried and grieved louder than any visible Royal (not surprising). When Michael Jackson passed away, his family hosted a public memorial where celebrities, including a former adversary, Brooke Shields, paid their respects to the man once convicted of child molestation. Apart from some London fans and some quiet music executives, there has been no real shock to the loss of singer Amy Winehouse.

It is not necessarily the reaction of Hollywood that has interested me, it is my own social response to the “tragedy” that is of interest. I discovered her death on Facebook. I was scrolling through my “Most Recent” feed as I do every morning; the first post listed was a friend’s link to the Australian detailing her death. I followed the link promptly, for an average Sunday morning it was the most interesting post that could be potentially up there. It doesn’t say much of my friends when I say they usually post a nag about a hangover that could kill a horse. I skimmed the article. All seemed as expected: woman found dead in apartment, nothing overly suspicious about the circumstances, a rehab regular celebrity’s name attached to the death notice. I returned my Facebook page and continued to look through the posts. Her death coinciding with the morning of the big Tour de France time trial, there were more posts about Cadel’s victory than anything else.

“What a waste”, I thought. “Not a shock, really, but a waste. She had so much talent wasted.”

But things were long gone for Amy Winehouse in my mind. Since 2007 she has been in and out of rehab, she hasn’t produced an album since Back in Black and has not made a sober/credible performance since the album release. I viewed her as a musical gem, a talented soul that would make waves with everything she did. But as I watched her own demise, self perpetuated by drugs and rebellion, I grew less empathy for her wasted talents and became resigned to the idea of her being unable to recover. I guess I wasn’t the only what one who thought that; Amy’s mother, Janis, said she saw her daughter the day before her death and it was apparent that her daughter’s death was “only a matter of time”.

For a member of the general public, have I presumed, not knowing the intimate details of Amy’s life, that she had a timer on her life that was due to go off prematurely? Through the articles and photos I saw of her self harming and constant drug abuse, did I assume the worst had already happened to her? Did I just expect to one day pick up the paper and read about this? Did it just happen to be Sunday was the day?

I guess the same could be said of the demise of other troubled celebrities; the antics of Lindsay Lohan. I roll my eyes every time I hear she has broken another restraining order or is heading back to jail. If they threw away the keys for years on Lohan’s life, I am sure I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. The phrase “I could see it coming” would be the first thing on the tip of my tongue.

I feel I should apologize for not feeling more sadness for Amy’s death. Despite me never knowing her, I feel this should not excuse a lack of tears and sadness for such a great talent’s passing. But I guess from shock can come great sadness, so I wish it was more of surprise, for the sake of my conscience.

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