#valuable and a benefit but...yeah. hm. other mental health stuff to consider uh-huh. well. yes this is rather a complex issue I guess. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

musicrunsthroughmysoul · 10 months ago

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A controversial thought just occurred to me that I've tried to put into words many times now about my hero (Janis Joplin) and other musicians and people who died "tragically" (especially in a "self-inflicted" way), and that is: every time I see someone online, on Youtube or Facebook or wherever, say something (always unprompted/unrelated to what the video/photo/article/etc. is about) along the lines of, "What a waste of their talent/skill their death was," I think, What a waste their death was? What have you said of their life? Why do you only choose to comment on, and apparently highlight, their death? Did their life, and their accomplishments, and what they brought to the world while they were alive mean nothing to you? Have you not a SHRED of gratitude that they were alive at all?

I am quite sure that there is some sort of psychological explanation (and I say that with the confidence of only having a basic understanding of psychology) for why people focus particularly on people's (in this case, celebrities') "tragic" deaths, but is it not a tragedy in itself to reduce those people's lives to their deaths and the fact that they're dead? Why not appreciate what they were able to share with us while they were here? You know?

#crystal visions of lilies in the valley #like I really don't...get why people would say that so randomly.#did you run out of ways to express your gratitude? here let me get you a thesaurus. I can help with that. I MEAN...:'(#maybe it's just me and having lived most of my life with mental illness I recognize that I NEED to look at the things - and people -#that bring me the most joy with positivity and gratitude. in order to cope I need more of what I cannot generate inside myself.#so I look outward to what other people have done and it makes ME grateful to be alive to be a witness of that...even in retrospect.#like yes I will easily admit that my thoughts on this are seen through my lens of mental illness but...oh. well. maybe that's what else #people are lacking (NOT mental illness. LOL): EMPATHY. because that's often what I feel toward (people like Janis) too...#well hrm. now I don't know if THAT complicates my thoughts any either. because...MUST EVERYONE have empathy? it is certainly #valuable and a benefit but...yeah. hm. other mental health stuff to consider uh-huh. well. yes this is rather a complex issue I guess.#that doesn't cancel out the rest of this post but it does complicate it. anyone have any ideas????? please. I'd love to hear other thoughts

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