We are asked to see the tragedy in fame. Privacy diminished. Each word recorded and judged by us, the masses. The celebrity, praised and gilded, lifted above the normalcy of modern society. Their lives are humanity exalted, and in that role their personhood is public property.

They begin as simply human and through the experience of fame each evolve into caricatures of their former selves. The rest of us only see them gigantic and glowing on screens, hear the eternal music of the stars – the actors and musicians, athletes and those granted fame for the sake of their ridiculous lives.

When a celebrity passes the world mourns and we will continue to remember their death, and possibly forget our own. Our Gods speak to us from beyond the grave, so we listen. The tragedy is not in fame, but in our collective need to create it from others. Grant fame to your neighbor. Glorify the postman and the bank teller. Be the celebrity of your own life.