We lost a lot of greats in the past 12 months. Music lost three of some of the heaviest hitters. B.B. King, Lemmy, and today David Bowie. (Unfortunately not Kanye) There were others, but the loss of these three, Bowie in particular, really affected me.
I couldn't believe it this morning when I heard the news at 6:30am. I was getting my Father's morning med-cocktail together as it came across the upcoming headlines, David Bowie has died. I almost instantly began to mist up. How could this be!? He just released a new album last Thursday! He was the Goblin King, and Starman, and Major Tom ,and Tesla! He was a huge part of our lives in music and movies. With no warning, just gone.
As the day has gone by, everything Bowie playing in the background, we've shared stories of what we were doing when we first heard each song as they played. And it occurred to me, I was as upset by the passing of David Bowie as I was Robin Williams.
Then I began to ponder why I was so emotional about the loss of two people I had never met and didn't know. It has to be their art! Their gift, to reach out and touch someone with words and the way they deliver them. Whether it's jokes and silly voices or thought provoking ballads and anthems, we gladly brought them into our homes. Selfishly we demanded more, taking for granted, they're only human too, as we elevated them to Superstars. The more we asked for, the better they gave us. We began to feel their words in our hearts and souls. They make us laugh and cry. They help us to feel and express our own love for ourselves and toward others. When we tell one of Robin's jokes, he's laughing with us. When we express our feelings with a Bowie song, he's feeling them with us. I am only realizing at this moment as I write this, that, it is not that we forget superstars are still humans. But that as a byproduct of this distant, though very real relationship, a bond is formed. As we become their inspiration to share more, they inspire us to join them in expressing our own gifts.
You can't explain it, but you don't have to. You can't touch it, but you can certainly feel it. No matter what, I know that we can all sing and laugh along until we too return, with Ziggy, to Stardust.