Serious Saturday: For Norway and Amy

Today is a very dark day. Many young lives were lost because of some raving lunatic's actions, one young life was lost due to drug abuse and emotional vulnerability. We're all listening to melancholic music over at my place to appease our restless hearts, letting the tragedies sink in. I hope the dead and those that stay behind find peace. 

I don't feel like an outfit post would be appropriate today, especially since I'm always smiling in my pictures, so I'm just not going to do one. Sorry, but the image of a madman going about shooting children for an hour and a half is too much to bare right now. 

Listen to Amy Winehouse with me, enjoy and cherish the things the deceased left behind. One of the most astonishing voices ever, Amy always got to me with her honesty, the way she wore her heart on her sleeve, the fact that her lyrics were always brimming with heartache and passion in a way that never seemed contrived.

Try to do something nice for someone else today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Who knows when your loved ones will be gone, and the world could use some positivity to even out the tragedy.

Edit: I know that a lot of people feel like the attention Amy's death has garnered is disrespectful to the tragedy in Norway, someway. I do not agree. In act, I understand that more people are moved by Amy passing away, for several different reasons. For one, music tugs at our heartstrings. Many people have felt as if they were personally touched by Amy's voice and lyrics, which makes her passing away very intimate for a very large amount of people across the globe. Another important point to make is that it comes as a surprise, even though all of us probably have thought at some point that this would be her near future. Seeing something so awful affirmed creates a profound shock because you have already allowed the thought to seep in - it's as if you've created a base for the emotions you'd feel when it would happen.


But maybe most importantly: people feel guilty. People feel dirty for having lapped up every story about Amy's crazy antics, rail thin body, fake boobs, sick affair with Pete Doherty, drunk performances and race to the bottom. People remember laughing with friends over how ugly Amy was, even using her likeness as an insult: "Lady Gaga looked like Amy Winehouse in that video, damn she's fug". It has gotten to be personal because our rejection and judging of Amy was personal. It's easy to say she should've gotten help, that she was a loser, that she should've gotten rehab. Truth is, no one knows what it is like to be in someone else's shoes. You can't say she should've done this or that, the only thing we CAN do is respect another human being and try to understand their innermost feelings and motivations.

We did not know Amy. But she opened herself up for the world to see, to hear, to love, to adore, to hate and to reject. That's what made it personal, even though she's only one woman while the slaughter in Norway happened to many. I'm not saying I think Amy's passing is more tragic, I'm simply stating that I completely understand why everyone's so shook up about it.  Both of these events touch me deeply in different ways. I do not feel the need to compare, and I see any type of attempt to compare the two as a way of rationalizing something that should just be felt in our hearts.