Now, we could be talking about anyone these days. That doesn't sound like such an unfamilar tale at the end of the 1990's. But we aren't talking about just anyone, of course. The sad tale of John F. Kennedy, Jr. illustrates that while he was like us in many ways, he was nothing like you and me at all. First of all, I would place a large, safe wager on the fact that no one reading this has or had a father who was President of the United States. That fact alone gave JFK Jr. his cache in life, all the more so after we let our society murder his father in Dallas in 1963, just days before the youngsters 3rd birthday. But the son never let that little aspect of his family history get in the way of his being a "regular" Joe. He could've easily milked it for all it was worth. He could have reminded us that we deprived him of father before he really had a chance to know him.
But that wasn't what JFK Jr. was all about. He strived to be normal, even though we all knew he couldn't be, not when he had to walk around with that name all his life. His death, and the subsequent media attention that followed, proved that he was given a celebrity status that he never would've chosen for himself. He could never be just an everyday, working stiff. No, we had to elevate him into the "Sexiest Man Alive", and he shrugged and went along with it.
Discussions have revolved around whether they were giving this too much attention in the press, and they probably did. Yet, in the face of the coverage of the death of Princess Diana, this was almost reserved moderation from the media. Let's face it, in spite of attempts to compare the two, there was almost nothing in common, except that in the end, 3 people were dead. It wasn't until she died that we began to look upon Diana with the angelic reverence she is thought of now. She was irreparably flawed--we've forgotten that it was she who asked out of the marriage, yet she wanted to keep all of the luxaries, in spite of her own adulterous behavior. JFK Jr. had no such ugly behavior in his past.
It's not important, except for the insurance people I suppose, why these 3 people went to their death in the single engine plane they were flying in. Nothing will be gained, and nothing will bring them back. We should be sad for their families, and indeed, judging by the outpouring of grief, we have been. Just like we could sympathize with him, when his father was shot, we should keep his sister, and his family, and his in-laws in our thoughts, that they will know that these 3 are in a better place than us.
John, Carolyn, Lauren...we'll miss you, though we hardly knew ye.