Stars' passing should cause us to reassess

City editor Lorri Sughroue has been writing stories about The Greatest Generation, interviewing several veterans who received long-overdue recognition for their service and sacrifice by being treated to "Heartland Honor Flight" trips to Washington to the World War II memorial.

It's a scramble to report their stories while we still can, and it's unfortunate when they decline to do so, saying they don't want the attention. They deserve it.

It's likely that the stories of ongoing generations won't be as hard to pry from those who lived them. While we learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the atomic bomb by radio, later Americans found out about the world via television and then the Internet.

This week's deaths of Ed McMahon (a World War II fighter pilot himself), Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson showed just how electronic communications tie us all together.

From his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show with his brothers, to early MTV, cable and Internet exposure, Michael Jackson was a phenomenon we all shared, whether we wanted to or not.

Farrah Fawcett was a modern pin-up girl with her famous poster and public personal struggles, but drew our empathy and sympathy in her final struggles with cancer.

It's one thing to mourn the passing of people the ages of our parents or grandparents, but when it's someone we watched on television and talked about the next day at grade school, we all feel old.

The lesson to take away?

Life is short

Live it to the fullest.