Please don’t get me wrong–I feel sorry for Natasha Richardson’s husband, children and family. It is a horrible way to lose a loved one. Nobody deserves that. That such a seemingly small accident can lead to a person’s death is utterly shocking.

That being said, this situation brings to light two points:

1)  why is it that when celebrities die, people get upset, governments spring to action. How many regular people die from head injuries every year? Not taking away the tragedy of her death of course, but is her death any more tragic than the death of your mother from cancer or the death of your child caused by a drunk driver? These things barely make the evening news, nor do they darken Broadway. “Our” deaths don’t get governments moving. It just seems that celebrities are somehow more important human beings than us regular folks. 

2) this unfortunate situation brings up the immediate “Helmets should be mandated!” conversation. Quebec is jumping the gun on it, and no-doubt ban-happy McSquinty will follow suit (ban bare heads, I suppose). The helmet law, of course, is such an utterly useless piece of legislation: if you’re smart, you’ll be wearing a helmet regardless of the law,  and if you’re dumb, or don’t want to mess up your hair, well, you don’t wear a helmet, and you risk cracking your head. This may sound crude, but that’s the way it is.

This reminds me of the (great) Jerry Seinfeld. You should know that I struggled with the fact whether I should include this bit or not, because it is funny, and people in general don’t want funny in a time of shock and mourning, and it may sound to some of you like I am making fun of the fact that Ms. Richardson died from a head injury: nothing could be further from the truth.  This bit is about helmet laws, not people that die from head injuries:

“…The only thing dumber than the helmet is the helmet law, the point of which is to protect a brain that is functioning so poorly, it’s not even trying to stop the cracking of the head that it’s in…“