Death

There's been no shortage of celebrity deaths recently (Suzanne Pleshette, Heath Ledger, and most recently, Roy Scheider). In fact, celebrities die all the time, just like the rest of us. Why do we care so much? Why do their deaths captivate us? For some reason, Scheider's death sent me into a more introspective mood than the typical celebrity passing, and made me ponder those questions in greater depth. I don't have definitive answers, but I think maybe the deaths of celebrities remind us of our own mortality. We put these people on pedestals, and they sometimes take on a larger-than-life persona. When they die, it shows that death comes for us all, sooner or later. And, when an actor has a strong tie to a specific time in your life, their passing can make you take greater notice of the passage of time in your own life. I, for example, have childhood memories of seeing "Jaws" for the first time. Scheider, whose famous line "We're gonna need a bigger boat" became an indelible piece of pop culture, epitomized that movie in many ways. So to hear of his death, I can't help but look back at my life, most of which has been lived in a post-"Jaws" world, and see that nothing—and no one—lasts forever.