This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Four on a Train, One in a Porsche, All of Them Stars

Dreadful and sad, the news about movie-star Paul Walker's death? Of course. But the fact that he lived a celebrity lifestyle and died in the sudden intersection of a Porsche and a lamppost or somesuch? No big surprise; almost expected, to be honest. A real Hollywood-style demise.

You want true tragedy? Mourn for the four ordinary people snatched from this life yesterday doing the most ordinary, un-spectacular thing imaginable: riding a common commuter train. Not even in the driver's seat, but doing the ordinary things that ordinary people do: reading; listening to their MP3-players; playing games or texting on their phones; looking out at the beautiful confluence, the works of both Man and Nature that make up that stretch of Hudson River-scenery; napping; dreaming. They have every right to be treated with the same respect, and to have their lives exalted and celebrated as grandly and gloriously as any superstar. 

True tragedy is not that we act as if we don't know the difference between ordinary people and celebrities; Us and Them. True tragedy is that we act as if there IS a difference.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?