Good-bye Dame Liz Taylor

I know Dame Liz actually died yesterday, but I figured that y'all had probably heard enough about her the, so I figured I'd spread out the Liz overload one more day.  :P

As I posted on Twitter yesterday, I immediately had two thoughts when I heard about her passing.  (1) Well, I guess the tabloids finally got one right (but it was thought in a sarcastic sense.  I mean, it doesn't really count when they've been screaming this as a headline for the past umpteen years AND the person is already an older person in failing health.  Call it when it's young, vital person, and I'll be more impressed.  I mean, even a broken watch is right twice a day.  C'mon.)

And (2) Now she can join her friend Michael (Jackson) in Heaven, and they can both rest in peace.

It bothers me that as her life progressed, she became more and more a staple in gossip magazines and a tabloid fixture.  This is the woman who brought us "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."  While she also was accused of breaking up a marriage, it's sad that our society becomes so obsessed and fixated on everything we feel people are doing wrong instead of remembering what people have added to our cultural landscape.

She's a friggin' DAME for heaven's sake!  She was instrumental in the founding of amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research!  And she's estimated to have raised (or helped raise) more than $100 million toward research, treatment, and public education about HIV/AIDS.  How are these accomplishments less important than eight marriages?  Or that she was a "home-wrecker"?

I think it's sad that when people leave this world, we suddenly start to remember "Oh yeah, this is why we loved that person."  Shouldn't we show that person that love when they're still alive rather than after their death?  Aren't we arsing this up by getting this backwards?  (On the other hand, I do hate it when we turn hypocrite and turn someone that we didn't like into a hero after their death.  "Oh, s/he was the best!"  Please, we didn't like him/her then, let's not go overboard now.)

So, Dame Liz Taylor, rest in peace, and know that you were loved.  Also, thank you for White Diamonds perfume.  For that alone, you have made it very easy to shop for my mom for any holiday, and I shall think of you every time I has a Fancy Occasion.