Every year about this time of the year it's time to go down The List. There are usually quite a few items of interest on it, things I didn't know. About them. The ones who have died. Passed away. Moved on.
Each one of them gifted us with something, didn't they? The famous ones, I mean. ‘Cuz there were others…..
With so many transitioning each year that I didn't know I can only say 'Godspeed" to them but to the celebrities, or quasi-celebrities I did know about, follow somewhat, or took a great deal of interest in, it's time to pay my respects.
It's amazing how much they contributed to our culture, each in their unique way. This one starred in this or that show, or movie, or wrote the book we all had on our minds at one time, or did the deed that was so spectacular that I was inspired by it. Or maybe I thought about what they said, wished I had been in their place or had had a similar opportunity, or else I was glad that they had the guts to do what they did 'cuz I never could have done it.
These kinds of lists are easy to find, the people that are on them are ranked by their popularity, usually, and it's pretty predictable which people are going to be on them but the most interesting obituaries I have found to read have not been the 'Top Twenty Five' or whatever annual ones come out but the daily ones about quasi-celebrities or even ordinary people. Such diverse lives they have led!
These kind of obits are very local or they're localized, meaning that a listed person's influence encompassed a larger area. Every newspaper runs them. Being a everyday reader of the New York Times for a while, I have seen that artists, dancers, and writers are featured in their obits regularly. Scientists who discovered this or worked on that. People that contributed unique things to the New York culture- restauranteurs, sports heros, politicians, and business people. As well, there are social misfits and fringe dwellers of every stripe, people who were thoughtful and urbane (and hardly ever read, save by a few), punk rockers, mob figures, etc., plus there are quirky people who did things that maybe were only for a short while interesting or impactful, but were enough to shift the direction much of the populace was moving in. Remarkable stuff.
Adieu: Ken Berry, George Bush Sr., Roy Clark, Stan Lee, Paul Allen, Burt Reynolds, Neil Simon, John McCain, Aretha Franklin, Tab Hunter, Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, Phillip Roth…..
Thomas Bennie- Unsplash.com
I try not to read the NY Times obits on a regular basis, I don't want to be reminded, but they're there in the sidebar as I scroll down the page so I get exposed to them a lot and now added to that, we've come 'round to the tail end of the year when the annual lists start showing up. The annual lists are interesting but through reading the daily obits I know that it's not just celebrities that do extraordinary things. Each of us has an impact, however slight that may be, just by being here and being alive. We affect those around us and maybe that's not noticed or noticeable at the time but over time the affect we have accrues.
Outside of celebritydom we others, removed from our usual social circles, are simply 'that guy' or 'that gal' that people know only on sight, encounter briefly, or catch a glimpse of just once. Most of us are like movie background. We're members of the crowd on a busy street, patrons in the restaurant, fans in the stadium, bicycle riders passing by, a lone dog walker. Fellow participants in life. We're out there, doing our thing.
Personally, this gives me the feeling that progress is being made by society as a whole towards some meaningful ideal. I may not know you, but I take solace in the fact that you're out there doing whatever it is that you do because without you doing that, this would be a very uninteresting, purposeless, and lonely planet indeed. But I don't necessary want 'you' over at my house, nor could I realistically ever accommodate you. There are just too many yous!
And it's likely that we'll never get to know each other, or of each other, unless we do something that gets us on The List that nobody really wants to be on, the list that tells me a little bit more about you than the billions of others because you did something that official list compilers found interesting.
So as I read The Lists ('Most notable deaths of 2018', 'People we have lost in 2018', etc.) I feel that there are an incredible amount of others worth mentioning who are not being remembered. However, I think they have been noticed in a different way and are definitely on the ledger of a higher power.
Not that their being put on this one has any effect whatsoever on whether they get to stay where they are or get sent elsewhere, no, this eternal list is a highly individual one and is tailored like an evaluation, where you get to see what areas you were strong in and in which ones you were weak so that the next time around you might want to work on building skills in your weak areas (but that will be totally your choice).
'Cuz there will be a next time, for most people. They wouldn't want to miss playing another role in this unfolding drama for anything.