Heath Ledger - In Memoriam

As all the world knows, Heath Ledger died Tuesday...probably while I was shopping in Target. It amazes me how we go on with our daily lives while, unbeknownst to us, one of us is dying. I didn't know Heath Ledger. I'd only seen three of his movies - Ten Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, and Brokeback Mountain - but I could tell there was something special about him. He was a human being unafraid to touch that deep dark well that lives in all of us. How do you define a quality that seems elusive but is very real? Marilyn Monroe had it. James Dean had it. Princess Diana had it. And when they leave this earth, we as human beings are all the more bereft because of it.