Phillip Seymour Hoffman was found dead earlier today with a needle in his arm and emptied bags of heroin littered around him. The temptation will be for all of us to distance ourselves from his death by arguing that we live so much cleaner than he did. If we succumb to such temptation, we will not be alone. It seems that all of us try to turn our heads and immune ourselves from death.
The death of Hoffman is a tragedy. Hoffman was brilliant and one of the greatest actors of our time. We should all be devastated. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or energy to feel such emotion. We had to get to the Super Bowl.
After multiple mindless hours of watching the Seattle Seahawks destroy the Denver Broncos, we will all go to bed and wake up in the morning to go to the jobs that help us mindlessly pass through our lives. Forget actually living, there are simple too many other things to do.
The greatest tragedy in the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman is that most of us will refuse to allow it to teach us that life is short and death will come for all of us. I pray that we will stop living as if death is never coming and fill each day with all that we are.
I will miss Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
I don’t want to miss you.
Amen.
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