Yesterday sucked. Seeing the news, late in the evening, that Chadwick Boseman had died at just 43 was a shock.
As I read the memories from his friends and colleagues, I know my sadness is just a fraction of theirs. I know there was no personal connection to the man on the screen. But I still grieve.
Immediately after learning he had been fighting cancer for 4 years I was shocked. How could we not know? Then, rationally, I understand that it was not our place to know. I can’t imagine how hard he fought. How he continued to do movies and press and chemo. How he spoke about purpose and legacies and married his wife – all knowing that he could die.
What a blessing that he was not also overwhelmed with the well-intentioned busybodies that would have wondered what treatment he was on, if he’d tried herbal medicine, what doctor he was seeing, if he was still vegetarian, what stage the cancer had reached, why he didn’t try this therapy or that regime. Thank God he was spared the endless death watch of the media, the people who reached out for their own clout or virtue signaling instead of true friendship and concern.
Actors give so much of themselves on the screen, the best ones make us feel like friends. We become invested in their stories and their lives. But that doesn’t exclude them from experiencing privacy, especially about their most difficult struggles.
The real question is, what would you have done if you’d known sooner? How can you bring that behavior into your life right now? Because if you knew your hero would die, decades soon than expected, would you have written a letter? Thanked him on social media?
If so, do that now. It may be too late for Chadwick to hear how much he meant to all of us, but it’s not too late for those still here.