I’m not saddened anymore by his death than the deaths of the others in his helicopter. I didn’t know any of them. Sure, I knew what he looked like and who he was. But I never had any personal interaction with him.

Sometimes I wonder if our society makes a bigger deal out of celebrity deaths because we are increasingly less connected to the human beings that are nearest to us. Or at least the group of people we have a personal connection to is smaller than it was in the past.

I also think, many who were born after 1980 haven’t really experienced many deaths of people close to them and close to their age. So maybe this is part of the first wave of people in that age range and younger thinking, “Death might not be that far off for me.”

Further, I think our society is increasingly shielded from death in general. A lot fewer people live on farms and see animals die. Relatives live longer, etc. IMO, it’s why people fight like crazy to keep 80 something year old dad/grandpa alive as long as possible even though he may have no quality of life.

But again, everybody can go ahead and feel whatever emotion they want as far as I’m concerned.