So this morning I woke up to the news that Alan Rickman had died. Just a few days ago, it was Bowie. Just a short time before that, we lost Lemmy too. The news of these deaths understandably bring a little sorrow into the lives of a lot of people. They're wonderful artists who gave themselves to the world. It's times like these where I think instead of focusing on what we've lost, we should instead celebrate what was given to us. Beautiful sounds, words, and images that have not only entertained us but have actually influenced us, shaped us as we grow and enjoy this world of ours. They may be dead, but their creations remain for us to enjoy again and again, to continue to influence us and those ahead of us.

I know a lot of us are probably dealing with death on more personal levels too. Whether we have friends and relatives who have recently passed or friends and relatives who are in worrying health. It goes without saying that its these people whose passing affects us on a deeper, stronger level. While these people may not leave behind a legacy as great and as wide on a material scale as someone like Bowie, they leave behind something much greater, much more important. They leave behind us. Every moment we spend with these people, every conversation, every subtle gesture, they helped shape us and make us who we are. By being in our lives, by being with us, they change us. Though it doesn't always seem like it and though we don't always want to admit it, more often than not they change us for the better, even the ones we didn't have the best relationships with.

I think now is a perfectly decent moment to take a minute to just sit back and think. Let's think about who we have lost and what they mean to us and why. Let's think about why we were so fortunate to have them in our lives in the first place. Let's think about who we are as individuals and who we have become and how the people in our lives have helped us get here. Lastly, let's think about what we can do, how we can conduct ourselves, so that we may make beautiful, positive contributions to the people in our lives and help shape them for the better. Or, if some of us really want to, we can just take a moment and think about nothing. There's peace in that too.