"But you didn't know them personally..." Well, yes, in a way we actually did.

We all have our most loved celebrities. Even some we might even count as heroes or idols. And when they die, we feel compelled to publicly eulogise them. That’s understandable, and something everybody is entitled to do. So far (I’m only 27), those celebrities have been Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Robin Williams, Chrissy Amphlett, and this year Prince, to name just a few (and numerous others who died before I was alive and/or got into their work). Today, despite my not being a real sports nut (besides NRL), the unstoppable Muhammad Ali joined their ranks.  But you might know there’s often a flipside to such public eulogising of celebrities when they pass: the whole argument of “Well, since you didn’t know them personally, why should you feel compelled to publicly eulogise them?”

Of course, that argument has a point. We may not have known them personally. BUT, fame and influence and art all reach us so easily in this age of 24-hour mass media, and if it’s an athlete like Ali, when they fight their battles (which in his case also took many political forms), it’s almost like they’re taking us with them, galvanising and inspiring us. When it’s any kind of artist, they have reached us because we identify with something tangible and resonant in their art, and they’re willing to share something of their lives with the world. The media can certainly cross a line in documenting the rest of celebrities’ lives, but that identification is arguably more urgent than ever today, when humanity remains rife with conflict and perils.

On the other hand you have your political leaders. The two most globally prominent of those to die this decade have been Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher, the reactions to whose deaths were a study in contrasts: Mandela’s death marked South Africa united in mourning for a week, and Thatcher’s passing inspired a much-publicised campaign from her opponents to make “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead” that week’s UK number-one single (it only reached #2). But hey, nothing’s more subjective than politics.

I’m not saying losing a celebrity you love is even on par with losing a loved one. For most of us that’s surely impossible. You just don’t have to have known that celebrity for them to have truly enriched your life.