We're all going to die

If you think about it, you will live to see almost every artist you admire die.

Maybe this seems obviously intuitive, but when I think of each artist that has singularly impacted my life—every comic, every singer—and then I think of each individually dying right now, my heart just sinks.

We are experiencing the loss of true legends all the time. For me, Robin Williams will always be my champion of suspending reality through character work. His death has been met with the recent death of another icon from our childhoods this week: Jovian, the star lemur from “Zoboomafoo,” and, unbeknownst to most of us, a resident of the Duke Lemur Center.

I take away one great lesson out of all of this tragic loss: may we stop waiting till they die to express all our true love, sympathy and appreciation for them?

Only when Robin Williams dies are we be able to fully appreciate his body of work and empathize with him for his mental health. Do we need to wait for Amanda Bynes to go, too? Her erratic behavior makes us forget how incredible her character work on “All That," “The Amanda Show," “She’s The Man," etc., truly was, and the sensationalism of her behavior makes us forget the context that she very well may be battling some serious mental health problems. Frankly, she deserves the greatest love we can give. She has given us memorable artwork. It is when people act out, as she has, that they need love the most, but it takes a powerfully mature person to meet that shocking behavior with an open heart. Also, she’s a human – enough said. There is no excuse to deny her our most divine sympathy. So let’s do that now, let’s open our hearts and give her compassion while she is alive to receive it.

Did I just go on a rant about Amanda Bynes? I just went on a rant about Amanda Bynes.

But honestly, I simply abhor the type of hate she receives from my peers. Beyond Bynes, I abhor the type of hate every pop cultural figure receives. From Miley Cyrus to Lady Gaga to President Obama, young people are charging more negativity than ever in all directions, at all times. It does not matter if all they do is create music for us, or if they bring the unemployment rate lower than it has been in years. Our default is indifference—our pleasantness is a rarity. Hate is nothing new, but this abundance of hate is a true phenomenon unique to the smart phone-always-connected-always-stimulated-never-pleased generation. We are so much better than this hate. If we are truly happy, we need not needlessly charge hate at others.

If you really think about it, you will live to see most of the people you know right now die. Truthfully, you will live to see yourself die. It’s all so short, why wait any time at all to start pouring your love and admiration on others?