Everybody knows that everybody dies… ~ River Song, Doctor Who
No one lives forever. Logically we all know this; though I’ll admit that it’s not something we care to think about very often. Never-the-less death is a part of life that we must, eventually, all come to accept.
But then, someone leaves us that seems to take a little bit of the light of the world with them. Someone who touched so many generations, and saved so many hearts from despair…
I would be lying if I didn’t say that Shirley Temple had a huge impact on my life, as a performer, as a child, as a person. If that makes me superficial, or cheesy, so be it. It’s true. I wanted to be her, people saying I looked like her or sounded like her when I was a kid was the biggest compliment I could imagine; and as I got older, I came to admire many of the things she stood for.
As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we’ll make it.
Her passing marks the end of an era, and is a loss for all the people she inspired, lives she touched and hearts she lifted during some of the world’s darkest times.
We have all lost a little bit of light…and the Summerlands has gained another dose of sunshine.
I understand the comparisons, and it is sad that we have lost her, but at least we knew she was still around, unlike some of the others that were recently lost to the entertainment world like Sid Ceaser, Peter O’Toole and Russell Johnson. I was was a little shocked in most cases, “He was still around?”
I think the fading away is worse in some cases