Last summer a close member of my family passed away. It was the first time in my life when someone who actually meant something to me, someone who I connected with, left me. That is if you don’t count Heath Ledger or Bernie Mac.

Oh wait, I just remembered, I don’t care that either of them died, and neither should you. Yes, it is tragic that these men passed away at relatively young ages. But did they really have that much of an impact on your life? When you woke up that day and heard that news, did you call into work, hold a memorial and watch re-runs of The Bernie Mac Show all day?

I’m not saying that it is illogical to feel grief when someone famous passes away, but in reality these people had no real impact on your life. Use that time and effort you spend bemoaning the loss of your favorite actor on something constructive, like, oh, I don’t know, reading a book or doing community service.

Honestly what upsets me the most about Ledger passing away is that he won’t be able to make more movies, especially since he won’t be able to reprise his role as the Joker in the next Batman sequel. Yes, it sucks he died, but that was pretty much the furthest extent to which he changed my life. Lets everybody hold hands, take a deep breath together, it’s going to be OK; there won’t be “A Knight’s Tale 2” rework.

Our fascination with celebrities, of course, doesn’t start with their death; we look to them as a way to escape the daily drudge of our own lives. They’re effervescent beings. They are the epitome of the American Dream, and they’re the heroes and babysitters to our kids all at the same time.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists website, Americans are exposed to more than 3,000 advertisements a day. Include that with the television and movies we watch, and soon enough we begin to know the celebrities better then we know ourselves.

So maybe that’s why we take it so hard when one passes away. Kelly Cotter, professor of psychology, makes the point that celebrity death gives people who have not experienced death in their personal life an idea of how to cope.

“When we hear about celebrities experiencing these sudden deaths it compiles the unexpected because we don’t think that celebrities die, and we don’t think that people die then we have to face both of those realities at the same time,” Cotter said.

I understand why people become upset when their favorite actor or musician passes away; it’s natural to grieve when someone leaves this existence. My problem is with priority.

Let’s take for instance the not so distant past. Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the band Nirvana, died on April 5, 1994. The next day Juvénal Habyarimana, the president of the Republic of Rwanda, was killed when his private plane was shot down. One led to the death of one of the most influential rock bands in American history, the other led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans. Which story do you think had a bigger impact on the public?

Matt Rascher can be reached at [email protected]