25 Words or Less

[kyburg]

In all the brougha over the death of Heath Ledger, I need to bring folks back to center on a subject.

Even if the death is a result of a drug overdose, it can ALSO be stupid, cruel chance that did it. A simple mistake.

I should know. That's how Dad died.

...

And that's about all I have to say about that.

Comments

[trillsie.livejournal.com]

I said that very same thing at work today.

I remarked to my mom, last night...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

...that I had heard he was having sleep difficulties, partly (mostly?) due to the Joker role, and it's possible he took a sleeping pill, and then a short time later took another (because the first had been forgotten).

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. And my comment in my journal wasn't meant to suggest one loss was any less tragic than another -- just that it's harder on an intellectual level to comprehend the death of a Brandon Lee, which seemed to come out of nowhere (talk of "curses" aside), from the death of, say, a Kurt Cobain where he'd nearly died of an overdose a few months before his suicide.

And I certainly didn't mean to imply that one person deserved to die and another didn't. There ARE consequences to actions, certainly, but still ... even if Heath Ledger died from behavior that could have been avoided (and it's entirely possible he died from taking two prescription drugs in normal doses that happened to interact badly for him!), it's a tragedy. He was a good actor, and more importantly, he was a father to a small child who probably won't even remember her dad.

So if my comments caused you pain, I apologize. I wasn't meaning to make a judgment call, just talking about that which the mind can comprehend with difficulty and that which it cannot.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*pats on shoulder* Don't worry about it. You just had a nice turn of phrase I couldn't resist yanking.

I was a month shy of seven when Dad died. Little brother was four.

Sometimes, people just die. Since life is all we know and paramount to existence, when death happens when "it's not supposed to" - it smarts a bit. It's a shock.

It isn't supposed to be an accident - but sometimes, it just is. It just is.

sad,I say

[fuhgettaboutit.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of the above.He is no longer with us thats whats sad. Regardless of how or why it happened.I dont believe he thought he was soon going to take his last breath of life.

[dawnmipb.livejournal.com]

It could also be as simple as the guy had pneumonia, fell into an exhausted asleep on his stomach waiting for the masseuse and suffocated like a SIDS baby.

*sigh*

I swear, all you have to say is "died" and "pills" and people go all sanctimonious....

Also, thank you.

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

As I believe Snobahr already mentioned, he was suffering from chronic exhaustion during the shooting of his two latest movies. I really do wish people would stop jumping to conclusions about the whole matter, when it may, as you mentioned, be something as simple as an unfortunate coincidence rather than any sort of addiction or the like.

[unclemilo.livejournal.com]

I actually believe it was a mistake.

He said he was only getting 2 hours of sleep...
and he was taking sleeping pills...

I can imagine someone as busy as him using that kind of medication may
have accidentally taken too many pills through sheer and tragic error.