A penny for my thoughts, oh, no, I’ll sell ’em for a dollar
They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singin’
Funny when you’re dead how people start listenin’

If I Die Young – The Band Perry

My friend died today. They found his body in a river in Slovania. Cause of death unknown, but irrelevant.

He was a prominent figure in my industry. When news of the event was confirmed the media, the fans, and his colleagues all put out the compulsory sympathetic tweet saying how much they’ll miss him, how good of a person he was, and how touched they were by his kindness.

It’s safe to say those things now.

But how many people had the courage to say it to him when he was alive?

And if he were still alive, most of us would let a year go by without calling him. But, what’s important is that when we’d bump into each other we’d gasp, smile and exchange about how “it’s been so long… I miss you…and  that we need to catch up.”

We never call. I was one of them.

I think it’s not the people that causes such outcry, it’s the reminder, the awareness of the fragility of our existence. One’s death is just the catalyst.