It Always Seems To Happen In "Threes"...

People of celebrity, when it comes their time to thrust off this earthly garb, and move on to "better things" always pass away in multiples...usually in "threes". I never quite understood how that came to be, but it is a curiosity to be certain. And we are, apparently in another one of "those" places in time.

This week alone, JAMES BROWN (noted R&B legend) and former president GERALD FORD have passed away. All we need is one more person of note to complete this triumvirate.

Now I can't say with any assurance that one more famous person is "due" to expire this week...or even NEXT week. What I will say is that very SOON, someone else WILL (most likely) pass on, completing this funereal triangle. One aspect to this, that I find just a little macabre, is that there are people who WAGER (big money too) on who (in the realm of celebrity) will leave our presence next. I mean I like a good bet as well as the next guy, but c'mon now....isn't that pushing it just a tad too far?

Something we should all find more than disturbing is the fact that these people who are passing away can never hope to be replaced in ANY fashion. Can we say with conviction, that the rememberance of those born after the baby-boomers will receive (or even deserve) the same attention that we lavish upon REAL icons of years past? Somehow, I can't see myself clear of thinking that Jay-Z will have the same impact when he passes away that James Brown has had. I fail to see the tributes of modern-day politicians rivaling (let alone surpassing) those of decades ago.

No more Clark Gables, Gary Coopers, John Waynes, Johnny Cashs, Carl Sagans, Isaac Asimovs, John Kennedys, Ronald Reagans, Pope John Paul IIs, and the list grows ever longer every week. We just do NOT (and probably will) not see the likes of such icons ever again. We've got too many "pedestals" standing empty, with a myriad of usurpers aspiring to those lofty heights, but no real people to take the places of those we have lost.

There's an interesting duplicity at work whenever any person of some "greatness" passes away. We are grieved by "our" loss, for what they represented to each one of us had value...substance, and tended to illicit memories of OUR OWN lives. We become diminshed in ways we cannot fathom. And yet, at the same time, we KNOW that death, no matter how inevitable, can never be put on hold ad infinitum. We become selfless as well as selfish at the same time. We honor their passing, but wish it never had to occur. Much the same can be said of family members and loved ones whos paths intertwine with our own.

The really sad part about all of this, is that in today's society, we are not creating, nor are we even finding any people who can honestly stay on par with those of our past, whether it's in the fields of music, movies, politics, or even business. We're too busy claiming all of OUR "fifteen minutes" as it were. And one would think that with every age comes those noteworthy people who will deserve our praise not only in this life, but our rememberenace as they depart from us.

I'm just not seeing it happen these days...