Where Is Thy Sting, Thy Dignity?

I don’t know if it was a mistake, or a point of sobriety for which to be thankful, that I followed a link to the story about Heath Ledger’s death. But what I found there grieved me: A picture of dozens of photographers, piled on top of each other, ravenous, flashing their cameras at Ledger’s body wrapped and rolling away on a gurney. Grieved because they did not gather to pay homage to a human life, but to commodify its end. Grieved because they do not feel sting, but satisfaction at possessing another story to tell. I am grieved because we have created them to do this. And how eager they are to give us what we want.

I had no great affection for Ledger or his work. Please understand, I mean him no disrespect or disservice. But as far as the vast millions of us are concerned, he was not a great leader to mourn. With his passing a great cause did not suffer (as far as I know). We did not know him but on screen, in magazines, in gossip. He was an entertainer, an actor, and soon more actors will take his place. As such, I have no loyalty to him except for this: Heath Ledger, fellow human, made in the image of the Living God, son, father and friend. His film credits matter nothing. As far as I’m concerned, this is what’s greater: that he was loved by the One called Love—a distinction we all share. Certainly he deserved more respect in his passing than he was afforded.

I take the events surrounding Heath Ledger’s passing as a reminder of the dignity of all human life and how our culture so quickly debases and denies that which is sacred. It’s a reminder to turn my attention from celebrity to the flesh and blood beside me—my wife, family, friends and neighbors both near and far. It’s a call to live apart from Hollywood gossip and talk about things that truly matter; to look less into screens, glossy magazines—all that seeks to disgrace our being—and look into living and breathing faces.

In anything less than looking into each other’s eyes, hearing each other’s voice, and taking each other’s hand, life is but a shadow of what it is meant to be. Let us run from turning one another into mere functions or products to be consumed. Let us love instead.