3 Deaths in 3 Days = 1 Reaction
June 29th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
I just survived another Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco. Hurray for being out and proud. There were lots of people in town and Pink Saturday in the Castro was a blast last night. Thanks to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for putting on a safe and fun event!
The past 3 days have seen 3 notable deaths (and 1 reaction from me):
- June 25th: Michael Jackson dies at UCLA Medical Center from an apparent cardiac arrest
- June 26th: Farrah Fawcett dies from a rare form of cancer
- June 28th: Billy Mays dies in his sleep after suffering head trauma during a rough landing aboard a US Airways flight
Billy Mays? Who’s that?
While I didn’t exactly mourn the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett (yes, I’m gay, but not that gay) I did recently see Billy Mays on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and thought he was a nice enough guy. I thought it was funny how quickly he could go from mild to WILD. He was quite a character. And I’ve seen him hundreds of times promoting Oxi-Clean and Orange-Glo products, so he was familiar to me. I read the news of Billy Mays dying in his sleep and started to cry. A lot. And the more I tried to rationalize my sadness, the less my mind came up with anything concrete.
After all, why would I react that way with someone who enjoyed life at the fringe of celebrity? Wasn’t he just a Joe Somebody? He was an everyman. What’s the big deal?
That’s it. He wasn’t a big deal. He was like anybody, any common person that happened to get good enough at his game to take it further. He became known for something mundane. Selling stuff on TV. Does this mean that I’ve got more tears in store when Ron Popeil’s rotisserie stops turning? I can’t say.
Billy Mays wasn’t a stratospheric star. He didn’t invent the moonwalk. He didn’t sell 12 million posters of himself smiling with his head cocked back. He irritated some. He made others smile. I count myself in the latter group. While he was perfectly alive just days ago, he is perfectly dead today. Life is like that.
I think I’ve learned another moral to the same old story. Move your hands! Do something with your life!
We don’t have plenty of time.
We only have this moment.
And if we’re lucky, a few more yet to come.
