A blogger ponders on why we grieve David Bowie

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David Bowie died on Monday, (I think that's right,) and millions are grieving.  An article by Caroline Framke (?) ponders the question why we grieve over public figures--specifically artists--whom we have never met.  The article quotes a tweet by "@elusiveJ", which you should read in the article.

In my case, I think that one of the tragedies of these times is the shortage of public figures who, throughout their public lives, lived in such a way that we could admire them.  Their responses to events were either right spot on, or they did not respond.  In their chosen artistic spheres, of course, they have to be a little larger-than-life, but if they do that in some moral way, we admire them.

Some of the public artists I admire are (many of them still alive):
Joan Baez
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
Lionel Ritchie
Jon Stewart
Michael Palin, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam,
Jane Fonda
Gene Wilder,
Mel Brooks
Cyndi Lauper,
Garrison Keillor

though I don't share their views on everything.

I wasn't influenced by David Bowie as much as many others; artistically, his influence was enormous, and (as the article says) he changed some people's lives permanently.  Public figures affect people in different ways, and it is not possible to encapsulate a life that makes sense to absolutely everybody.  I loved David Bowie because I felt he was a really decent guy, a human being all of a piece.  That's what integrity is: nothing contradictory in the person.  It is difficult to be that way; I certainly am not.  I'm grateful to David Bowie for his art, and for his great example as a human being.

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