Welcome to Icons Part 3: When an Icon Fades

This past week we lost a major icon in the music industry, Chester Bennington. Linkin Park was one of my favorite bands in the 2000s. I loved singing along whenever one of their songs popped up on the radio station (DC 101.1 was all I listened to back then). His music spoke the angsty teenager that I was. Hearing about his death was tough and I might have played nothing but Linkin Park for the past few days.

Within minutes of people hearing about Chester Bennington's death, people were posting on social media how his music changed their lives. Some people posted about how Linkin Park's music helped them get through the worst parts of their lives. Others mentioned how his work inspired them at a time when their lives felt directionless.

We've recently lost a lot of iconic people. Not just musicians, but also actors, models, authors, and political activists. Some lived long full lives, while others passed away after a long battle with illness, and a few lost their lives in tragic accidents. When someone who is iconic dies, people will stop whatever they are doing and type out a message on social media, telling everyone what this person meant to their lives, even though many times they've never actually met.

Iconic people are able to touch so many lives with their work. They can seem so much larger than life, that when we loose them, we fell like we are loosing a part of ourselves. I know people who still mourn the death of Robin Williams and will post tributes to him on his birthday (heck I've been known to cry while watching his older movies).

The first major iconic death that I was aware of was when Princess Diana died. At the time, I had no idea who she was, what she stood for, or why so many people loved her. I only knew about her death because my mom started crying when she heard the news. Back then, I didn't understand why my mom would cry because someone she had never met died. Clearly she meant something to my mom, but it wasn't like they were friends. I'm older now and, hopefully, a wise enough to understand that just because you don't know someone personally doesn't mean they can't touch your lives in a positive way.

Princess Diana meant a lot to many people, as did Prince, and Alan Rickman, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, and David Bowie. I could name hundreds of iconic people whom we have lost in the past ten years. Each one helping to shape and influence people they might never have met.

Icons mean something and can represent anything. They can appear out of no where and occasionally fade just as quickly. They inspire us. They influence us. They can change our lives. When an iconic person dies, we mourn them and celebrate their lives. We remember the amazing things they have done and why we had such strong emotions for them.

Death is tragic, even if it is inevitable. When a person dies, they don't just fade away from our collective conscious. We remember them and tell their stories to the next generation.

Thank you for reading. Until next week.