only cowards mock dying majesty

When someone famous dies--or for that matter, whenever there is a famous death of anyone, celebrity or non-celebrity alike--lots of people give appropriate statements of regret and grief. Invariably though, there are people who either resent the public outpouring of grief or openly mock or joke about the person's death.

I can understand those who become annoyed that a celebrity's death seems to affect people far more than, for example, anonymous soldiers and civilians dying in far off lands.

I cannot understand why so many feel the need to mock the way someone dies or to view the person's death as just a joke. Most often, these people hide behind anonymity in messages boards and in blog posts, but sometimes they openly laugh about the method of another's demise while talking to friends in class or at work.

Case in point: in a law school class today, someone was laughing as he told a fellow classmate about the "hilarious" way in which Steve Irwin died. "Haha, a stingray!"

There are few things that bother me in this world more than the cowardice and meanspiritedness that this person showed today.

I think of a fable and a poem at times like these. I think they say how I feel much better than I can.

The Sick Lion by Aesop

A Lion had come to the end of his days and lay sick unto death at the mouth of his cave, gasping for breath. The animals, his subjects, came round him and drew nearer as he grew more and more helpless. When they saw him on the point of death they thought to themselves: "Now is the time to pay off old grudges." So the Boar came up and drove at him with his tusks; then a Bull gored him with his horns; still the Lion lay helpless before them: so the Ass, feeling quite safe from danger, came up, and turning his tail to the Lion kicked up his heels into his face. "This is a double death," growled the Lion.

Only cowards insult dying majesty.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.