Am I a bad person? I cannot help it. When I hear of someone famous dying of cancer and they are in their 70s, it just doesn’t feel like a tragedy to me. I cannot help but think that they had a good long life.

I guess that at the same time as seeing news of a famous person dying because of cancer, a famous person that is almost 70 … and when only moments before I learned of a mother in her 40s with young children dying … that is so much more the tragedy.

That is what I think about when I see these news articles about the famous 69 year old … he had a good long life … the mother, she should have had a good long life. Her death is the real tragedy. And yet, only those who knew her, or those who were impacted by her social media presence, are grieving for the loss. The news media knows nothing of the young mother who died from metastatic breast cancer – taken well before her time. Her kids too young to remember her. That is the real tragedy. Thinking of her and her children, that is what makes me sad.

I’ve seen it all before. Some famous person dies … they are in their 70s or 80s … and I can’t help but think that I would be happy to live that long. To be healthy as I age. That is a good life. It is the life I want for all my friends.

I am reminded of the interview I did for the local news paper for the October Breast Cancer spread. When the reporter (who did an excellent job BTW) asked me, what do I hope for in ten years. My response was – I hope that all my friends are still alive. Now that in and of itself is a tragedy.