So…

Are you ready?

 

A small but vital part breaks. A virus mutates. Someone fails to stop at a red light. A doctor pulls the stool close and says, “I’m so sorry.”

It’s unsettling when someone that young dies, accidentally, randomly.

He was 41. His daughter, who died in the same crash, was just 13. And don’t forget the 7 other lives lost.

We want to believe that death is far away for us. Maybe we have to believe that to live, given all the uncertainty that surrounds us.

And so when someone so wealthy, so famous, is snatched out of the sky and killed, it reminds us that it could happen just as suddenly to us.

And for many who listen to you, it has.

It feels more than coincidental that my post yesterday was about dying, and the quote of the day that accompanied it, seemed to address this very subject.

Perhaps it was. How can I know?

So, you and your listeners, many of us, are upset today.

The ground doesn’t feel nearly as solid as it did before this happened, and part of your job is helping them process that, letting them talk about it.

I know that many won’t be allowed to do that. We’re ‘show business,’ remember? Always bright and happy. Bad things don’t happen on our station, but when they do, we pretend they didn’t.

I’ve never been that kind of programmer.

I can’t think of anything more relevant, more compelling, more necessary today.

I hope you watched Alicia Keys hosting last night Grammy Awards. She handled it perfectly, with grace and emotion, and often throughout the night for those swimming in and out of the show, without losing her sense of optimism, without sacrificing the reason all those were gathered.

Are you ready? No, not for today’s show.

I mean, are you really ready?

Have you said what you’ve wanted to say? Have you given your best more often than not?

Do those most important to you know how much you love them, how much you’ve loved this singular, brief life of yours, how grateful you are for the gift of their love, their time, their presence with you on your journey?

I hope so.

Because in the breath of the morning fog, it can end so quickly and permanently.