Godspeed, Olivia Newton-John
I hear her voice in the morning hour—she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
When I was younger, I didn't understand fully why my mother would cry when a famous musician or actor from her generation died. It's not like she ever knew them, was it?
I understand now.
Middle age is the time of life when you begin watching the world you grew up in die. It's not really about the individual's death.
It's about the ever-increasing passage of time. It's to learn how ephemeral everything and everyone really is. If one's life is a house, it's to watch each chair and table and photo album age, crack, and fall apart.
Middle age brings many things that can't be had in youth. Clarity, greater peace of mind, a measure of contentment.
It also brings a deep mourning.
Grief can be caused by some form of impersonal loss. Dying actors or musicians is a direct indication that your own youth is fading and that you can never go back to how things used to be. Loss is powerful.
I deeply felt when Lou Reed and David Bowie died. Other losses not just death have affected me similarly; eg when a punk and grunge band I used to love went over to the dark side of extreme leftist politics.
This is perfect. Thank-you.