"God's finger touched him and he slept." ~Alfred Lord Tennyson
It's not often I give any mention out here to the events in the media or the people that make up the fodder for everything we see splashed across the newspapers, television, internet and tabloids. But I hope you'll forgive me this once as I indulge in something between a rage filled rant, and my own thoughts about the sudden death of Heath Ledger.
I didn't find out about his death via any of the above means I mentioned. We don't really watch much TV anymore and I try and stay away from tabloids or sites on the net which run rampant with gossip. So it was to my utter shock when Gareth walked in after work on Tuesday and asked me if I'd heard the news. I didn't know what he was talking about. He told me that Heath Ledger was dead. Gareth knew I'd met him on two seperate occasions...perks from having worked in radio. It wasn't like I knew Heath at all. Only chatted with him very briefly each time. He struck me as genuinely nice if not a bit shy, and a tad philosophical. But that's all I gleaned in perhaps a total of 10 minutes spent over two occasions. Nothing really to write home about. I don't get "star struck", generally speaking and even through all my years on the air and the myraid of personalities and artists I've met, at the end of the day, they are people, just like you and I. Sure, there are some who I wish I had never had to deal with, as they can be demanding and somewhat egotistical, but it was all par for the course and I could either make a blathering idiot of myself and whatever radio station I happened to be working at, or I could deal. No biggie.
I guess what bothers me most about Heath's death and the subsequent media blitz to "call" the cause, (it got to be ludicrous in the first few hours immediately following the discovery of his body, with all sides shouting; "suicide....drug overdose......ect" with no real basis in fact by which to assert those allegations.) but I can't imagine how awful it must be for his estranged fiance' to have to deal with this, and cope with their two year old Matilda's invitable question, "where's daddy?" (beleive me, I have a daughter the same exact age, Gaby would want to know where her daddy was and when he was coming back)...and I can't imagine the pain and anguish his parents and family must be going through.
Not only do they have to deal with the pain of losing a son, but they have to deal with the public speculation and gossip surrounding the cause of his death, well in advance of any medical or forensic examinations. Sadly, I can empathize with Mr. and Mrs. Ledger. Whilst I don't know how agonizing it must be to go through something like this while the world watches, I know the pain of having to bury a son. I know how it feels like someone has ripped not only your heart from your chest but has stolen the very last breath from your lungs. To the day I die I will never forget having someone tell me that my beautiful little boy would never take another breath of his own again, and that he wasn't coming back.
It is an exquisitely undescribeable pain.
It is unbearable.
It is unimagineable.
And so it is, with this deep and profound knowledge that I find it morally unconscieneable and repugnant the manner in which the press has conducted themselves in regards to Heath's death. Where is this respect for not only the memory of this beautiful man, but for his family and loved ones who are left behind to somehow manage with not only their pain and grief but the ludicrous speculation surrounding the cause of his death. They can't move without being surrounded by hundreds of cameras, media vans and onlookers.....the push of the crowds alone must be almost suffocating.
What right do any of us have to intrude upon someone else's grief? Does the cost of a movie ticket or DVD somehow give the general public permission to shove themselves and their morbid curiosity down the throats of the bereaved? Someone, please explain to me what is so titilating about seeing a body being wheeled out on the M.E.'s stretcher? Why the excitement about the possibility of a drug overdose? Who cares about his connection to one of the Olsen twins? He's gone! And nothing about the way in which he left this earth is going to change that fact. So why the sickening curiosity about it all? Really...is it anyone's business? Heath Ledger owed us nothing in life, nor in death, least of all a "peek" after the fact!
Where is the respect, not only for Heath, but for his family and his daughter.
