(There's a terrible part of me that thinks there's one benefit of this: it seems to be killing that stupid, thoughtless urban legend that celebrity deaths happen in threes. I quote (or at least paraphrase) George Carlin: "Things don't happen in threes. Things happen in ones. Sometimes three ones happen in a row and people think things happened in threes." It's looking for or imposing a pattern that's not there. A few years ago I watched the Internet react to a couple of high-profile deaths right in a row, and all sorts of people then posted all sorts of other deaths as the third "celebrity death" in that set. (Collect 'em all!) It seems, ultimately, distraction from the effort to remember those who have passed. Do you want your eventual death used as part of a pattern? "Look! That person died, too!"
(Eef. Gyarg.
(That said, I still chuckle at how someone reacted to a spate of deaths with "These are supposed to happen in 3s, not 33s.")
(There. You're past the terrible thought.)
Someone dies, we think about them more, we try to spread the word that this person was cool and worthwhile, but there's the inevitable and obvious loss: we don't get more coolness and worth from that person. Beyond what we can manage in our memories. I can remember how cool and great Mike Pearl was, but Mike Pearl isn't around to add to the coolness he added to the world until 1997.
I wish this worked: flipping it around, by thinking to the future. There's that Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer is King Kong, and when Kong is brought to New York we see a newspaper announcing so. Another headline on the front page: "DICK CAVETT BORN." Thank you, writers at The Simpsons, for thinking of that. Because wouldn't that be wonderful? "Someone who's going to be great in the future just got born!" or "Someone who's going to kick ass 25 years from now was conceived last night! (And let me tell you, his parents had A LOT OF FUN doing that.)" "Let's just say that Thursday, May 27th, 2021 is going to be a GREAT day for a certain someone."
I know, the future is uncertain, no fate but what we make, always in motion is the future and all that. The future ain't concrete enough to provide us that chance. BUT WHAT IF IT DID? Because good and happy stuff will happen in the future. Just as it did in the past.
Remember people you've lost. I do that. And also allow for the chance that more great stuff is going to happen tomorrow. And the next day. And the next, and the next, and the next. Because there actually isn't a limit on Future Awesome.
(Maybe Future Awesome should be a band.)