if only the good die young, why???

I saw on Yahoo! that Heath Ledger was found dead in NYC earlier today and immediately headed over to Cinematical to see what was the what. They had breaking news here and some speedy retrospective stuff here. What a waste. There is lots of talk of an overdose being bandied about. I say again, what a waste.

This makes me think of Chris Farley, another entertainer I truly enjoyed watching who also (if Ledger's is indeed an overdose death) had a substance abuse problem. What is it about drugs that is so alluring? Why have we come to such a place with addictive personalities prevailing over common sense? I by no means claim to be a health nut but I remember in school when the first pressure to smoke swept my age group. I tried it, it tasted like smoky, ashy @$$ and I didn't pickup the habit. It stinks up a person's car, their clothes, the books they read (occupational revelation), and their breath (makes kissing a hit or miss depending on whether or not they've brushed their teeth recently)...oh yeah, and it's expensive! Sure my friends made fun of me but I thought they were morons (now stinky ones) and I took my allowance and spent it on movies, books, candy, etc. (while they tried to weasel more money out of their parents for such things since they blew their allowances buying cigarettes from the older kids).

Now comes alcohol. Exhibit A: I have a dead sibling (he was 19 when he died) as a direct result of alcohol thus I had no real interest in it when it too swept through my age group. I did partake when I was of legal age but not as often nor as hard as my friends did. I had no youthful illusions about immortality. I knew it didn't matter what plans you made for your life or how young you were, death doesn't care over much. Drinking in bars is also expensive and I am not a lush, very prone to be ill...and hey, what's more attractive that a girl puking on your shoes??? It's also hard to find a hair holder on short notice so then she's puking on your shoes AND her own hair. greaaaaat.

All the other stuff is prohibitively expensive (illegal), comes with more side effects that you can shake a stick at (illegal), and oh yeah, they're illegal. You become an episode of Cops, Intervention and World's Most Dangerous Prisons all rolled into one and just waiting to happen.

All this just to say that I'm am very saddened to hear about Heath Ledger.

htw