Heath Ledger's death is such a sad story and I feel for his family and friends. My wish is that the media could let him rest in peace. Every news paper I look at is full of speculation. Suicide or accident? Although I am hopeful it was an accident this is something we may not know. One thing is for sure, this incident has stirred up a lot of debate online. People cast stones and say that suicide is a selfish act. In the case of a celebrity you will usually hear that comment followed by "he/she had everything - what were they thinking"? It is easy to cast stones when you have never lived in a glass house.
Personally I have been lucky and have never had to deal with depression, but I sympathize with those who have. I have seen friends battle their demons every day. While I have had quite a few obstacles to overcome in life, I have been fortunate enough to have the inner-strength along with a strong support system of family and friends to help me through it. I can see how the smallest crack in either of those factors could have lead to a quick fall which could have been hard to recover from. On top of that, in the case of a celebrity, to live under a microscope and worry about being judged is enough pressure to weigh down the strongest of the strong.
Society looks to these people to set examples but then is the first to tear them apart for being human. Imagine waking up every morning and being confined to your house. You no longer have the luxury of walking out to the mailbox in your bathrobe for fear that it will be on every magazine cover or worse - Mr. Blackwell's worst dressed list! Your days of throwing on shorts and a tank top to run to the market for milk are numbered because you are now criticized for the type of milk you buy; skim milk means you are anorexic and full milk - well I guess you do not care about your appearance.
Why do we feed this frenzy that has engulfed the covers of our magazines? Haven't we learned from Diana and all of the near misses lately? I would love to hear your opinion on the matter even if you don't agree with me.Thanks for listening.