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.


19 comments

  1. Rip to all these people !

    Our thoughts go to their families and friends!

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  2. THANK YOU SO MUCH Annebeth...for putting love out there, for throwing some warmth, for wanting to empathise. Twitter and the Internet is full of so many comparisons, stupid judgment calls, labelling Amy's death as something she deserved.
    Being addicted to drugs and alcohol is NEVER a choice. Nobody chooses to torture themselves. Nobody wants to make themselves continuously sick and beat up their body over and over again. However, there are so many inhumane souls out there, and even in on my side, in Spain, people were RT jokes...actual jokes on her death.
    What has happened in Norway is a tragedy of gigantic proportions. I cried after I heard the confirmation about Amy's death, and I was also crying for the attrocities in Norway.

    We are human because we feel, we can empathise, we can give love. We cease to be human when we cannot show this in sad times.

    Amy was a fallen angel, a true talent, one of the best voices of our time, and a gifted songwriter.

    Thanks for sharing your love through here, Annebeth, it is so needed in a world were people can disappear so suddenly as in Norway. I called my boyfriend and my sister, because I cannot conceive a world without them. xxx

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  3. My heart and prayers go out to all of them, may all of them find peace and light in their hearts. <3

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  4. Its funny how a world with so many many people can all be feeling the same things right now. I haven't felt this sad in a long time. I can not imagine what those families are going through. The accounts from the survivors have given me chills and the gruesome nature of that man's actions make me ill. I'm praying that one day the families of the victims will find peace, but they may never find peace and that is the most horrible thing someone could take away from someone.

    As for Winehouse, and others before her, it is sad, but honestly that type of thing happens all day everyday to all types of people who've had accomplishments in their life. And most of them never had the money to get themselves the help they needed or craved. For her I'm sorry that she didn't have the desire to help herself. And for her family's loss I'm sorry.

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  5. Thanks for this post. I'm glad at least some bloggers out there are posting about Norway too. I've seen surprisingly few posts about Norway compared to about Amy Winehouse.. Unfortunately..

    So, thank you for this.

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  6. I just found out about Amy's death via another blog, and it saddened me. Listening to her voice as I read your blog just hit how beautiful an artist we've lost, and then all of the deaths in Norway... today is indeed a sad day. I completely agree with you about there not needing to be a comparison. Death is death, and while there are vastly different circumstances to Amy's death and the deaths in Norway, it shouldn't negate the grief of the losses either way.

    My heart is with the families in Norway that have lost their loved ones, and my heart is with Amy's family and friends and fans.

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  7. Such a sad sad day. I can't believe what happened in Norway, so ridiculous and upsetting!! No one deserves that at all. My heart definitely goes out to everyone
    It is sad that Amy passed away, she touched a lot of people with her music and that's a very personal thing.
    xJennaD

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  8. You're always very eloquent when it comes to deeper things on your blog and I really respect that. Both of these events have also shocked me in different ways and for different reasons. I think you said it perfectly.
    XOXO

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  9. both are tragedies. the norway attacks are obviously awful and unbelievable! the death of amy is just sad! sad that noone helped her the way she needed. as always, very well written and thoughtful honey

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  10. to me it does not comes to a surprise, she completely fits the club of 27! It is so easily to judge and we will never know what really happened! But to me it is not about AW, it is about how the media works! I am not an expert! but 24h about what happened in Norway!!!!! Nothing feels sincere anymore! don't get me wrong, i am guilty too, hey i have a blog, so I am in this circus too! But when things happen like this i love to take a step back and analyze what is going on: waarom loopt het zoals het loopt!
    There is one thing, the tragedy in Africa affects me more, but i do not do something about it! So i am not the right person to give a Paolo Freire speech!

    we will never ever know what happens with celebs. We do not understand why Tom Boonen uses drugs! Why? because we know they have so many professionals around them! So I don't judge, but it doesn't affect me a lot either! same thing with Kurt Cobain and he was my idol! I love the music, but that is it! It is like you can only mourn about the music and not about the person because you don't know them! (PS I am not a cold person, i do have feelings). I don't care so much because I don't know what happened, so i cannot draw any conclusions of any kind.

    I think you have come to the right conclusion: we do not feel the need/don't have to compare! It is like the 9/11 thing! I am still shaking up when i see videos about the attack, but when i see a bombing in Afghanistan it does not affect me that much! this is a very strange phenomenon and i cannot explain it!

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  11. PS I love the way you always go a little bit deeper! But i must be honest, sometimes it makes me uncomfortable because i have to think about it too! Love to read all the other comments, it is like a critical self reflection!

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  12. what a beautiful post.
    thankyou.

    god bless the families and loved ones of all who have passed.

    x

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  13. Very well-written, Annebeth, and I agree completely.

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  14. I was so touched by this news.. It is horrible.. why are people doing this to eachother... They are in my prayers also.... thanks for putting this message on your blog.

    xxxx

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  15. I think people are talking so much about Amy as opposed to Norway, is that her tragedy is somehow easier for us to comprehend. Amy was someone we were all familiar with, and I would imagine most people know someone who struggles or has struggled with addiction, if they haven't tackled it themselves.
    A story like Amy's touches us because we can imagine it being us or someone we love.
    Norway is so shocking. So horrible. We find it almost impossible to process how something so awful could have happened. There aren't even words to describe how terrible it is.
    We don't what to say, and our minds reject the knowledge of this tragedy. But, Amy we can understand, so hers is the story we talk about.

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  16. I think people are talking so much about Amy as opposed to Norway, is that her tragedy is somehow easier for us to comprehend. Amy was someone we were all familiar with, and I would imagine most people know someone who struggles or has struggled with addiction, if they haven't tackled it themselves.
    A story like Amy's touches us because we can imagine it being us or someone we love.
    Norway is so shocking. So horrible. We find it almost impossible to process how something so awful could have happened. There aren't even words to describe how terrible it is.
    We don't what to say, and our minds reject the knowledge of this tragedy. But, Amy we can understand, so hers is the story we talk about.

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  17. I was so touched by this news.. It is horrible.. why are people doing this to eachother... They are in my prayers also.... thanks for putting this message on your blog.

    xxxx

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  18. what a beautiful post.
    thankyou.

    god bless the families and loved ones of all who have passed.

    x

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  19. Very well-written, Annebeth, and I agree completely.

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