I Am You, You Are Me

I was saddened today to hear of Amy Winehouse's passing. Not because I was a huge fan of her music. If I'm being honest, I didn't listen to it much. It's not that I didn't like it. From what I'd heard, she had an incredible voice. I just never got around to really listening.

But even to me, it was obvious that she was a very lost soul. As a mother, I wanted to wrap her in my arms, put her to bed, and love her back on track.

I'm sorry no one was able to reach her through the disease of her addiction. I feel sure there were many people who loved her and tried.

But sadder, even, than her passing is the response I've seen from so many people. Things like "Why are we mourning this loser?" and (from a teeenager), "LOL @ Amy Winehouse".

To say I'm disgusted is an understatement.

What is wrong with us? Are we so inured to the suffering of others that we can't feel empathy and sadness at the loss of someone – anyone – so young? Someone who was so lost, she couldn't be reached despite a world of love and support and admiration? Are we so desperate to feel better about ourselves and our own lives that we must tear others down to feel a moment's satisfaction.? That we must pick and pick and pick away at them even as they barely manage to step through this life – and even when they become unable to do so a moment longer?

If so, than I guess we're the ones who have lost our way.

There are also those who feel that it's wrong somehow to mourn the passing of Amy while Norway is mourning the loss of so many innocent victims. To them I would say that I mourn all. There is love and compassion in my heart for all. It isn't a contest to determine which is the more tragic situation.

The world is full of tragedy, the vast majority of which we never even have the chance to stop and take notice.

Today we can stop and take notice. We can be sorry and sad that a talented 27-year-old woman would be so full of heartache and despair, so in the grips of addiction, that she died alone well before her time.

We can be sorry and sad that 80+ plus people, many of them innocent children, are dead because of the extreme views of one disturbed individual.

And we can be sorry for the tragedy that befalls so many on an everyday basis – all the people who are lost in every way in this world.

Most of all, I'm sorry and sad for the people whose hearts have become so hardened that they have lost the undeniable truth of the life we live – we are all connected. We all suffer, fail, fall down, have shortcomings, disappoint the people closest to us, hurt, bleed.

But the vast majority of us also TRY. We try to love and believe and offer a hand and a hug to those who need it. In short, most of us are doing our very best, even when it seems to others – and often ourselves – that we are failing miserably.

Today, my wish for the world is that we will all try to love each other more and better. That we will try to look upon people not with judgment, but with compassion and empathy. Because you are me and I am you.

There isn't much that separates us after all.

Weekly round up tomorrow. Just can't do it tonight.