Dear Editor,
The world has recently been stunned and saddened by the twin deaths of Heath Ledger and Ashley Callie. Two young healthy individuals' lives were extinguished by a mystical malevolence.
Yet I ask this question: "Why are we so interested in the deaths of these people?" Why do we start Facebook group, blogs, and websites to honour their lives and mourn their deaths? Why do we react as if we have lost a part of our identities?
More importantly, I ask myself why I sat in stunned silence as the words "Isidingo star Ashley Callie died on Friday" appeared on my computer screen and why I felt like crying when I read of Heath Ledger's death.
Why am I compelled to feel this sense of profound loss at the death of a stranger? Why is it that I am angry and not sad when I hear the news of a 12-year-old's brutal killing yet I am heartbroken when the name of a famous actor is uttered in connection with death?
Could it possibly be because society has somehow decided that the value of life is measured by the job we hold, the car we drive, the name we have? Are we so obsessed with well-known actors' lives that we have become blind to the death and sadness that manifest themselves in our daily lives?
If we are honest with ourselves, then we know the answer to these questions. We are the nation that bleeds when a well-loved politician dies, yet feels nothing for the 12-year old unknown who dies in a car accident. We are the society that mourns the passing away of an actor, yet disregards the 31-year-old unknown who dies of breast cancer.
We are the human race that is shocked and saddened by the death of an international singing sensation, yet ignores the 54-year old unknown who dies of a heart attack.
We have been transformed into an "organism" that does not care, does not love, does not sympathise unless it involves someone known.
Francois Oosthuizen
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