The death of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys (aka MCA) hit me harder than any celebrity deaths have in a very long time ... I think there are several reasons for this ... age being a major part of it ... he was forty-seven ... he was still old enough that technically he could have almost been my father ... but his picture hung on my wall as a teenage girl ... along with the other Beastie Boys ... I thought they were all cute ... all within reach ... another part of it is that he died from cancer ... from something that made him just as human as the rest of us ... and something that he didn't bring on himself ... he didn't die from a drug overdose, like so many young celebrities do ... he was also a very good person ... philanthropy was a huge part of his life for the last two decades ... he started foundations and contributed to others ...
I think my own sense of mortality kicked in ... my own sense of the people around me being vulnerable ... the phrase "the good die young" went through my mind when I first heard ... what I do know is based on several of my friends' responses through social networks that I am not alone in feeling this way ... I am not alone in being deeply affected by the loss of such an amazing artist, philanthropist and person ...
He will be missed ... and many in my generation grew a little bit from the news of the last two days ...
