There is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone, for someone, pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echos.
- Milan Kundera
Compassion.
It's not something that I show a lot (and I'm not ashamed to admit that I have character flaws) but there are times where I do feel it and show it to other people whether it's someone close to me like my best friends, Richard and Diana, or complete strangers like YouTube personality Mark Fischbach (known as Markiplier) and in this case (and one of the subjects of this blog entry) WWE Superstar Roman Reigns (Joe Anoa'i). I don't normally do this but after hearing of the death of his brother (and former WWE wrestler) Matt Anoa'i (Rosey) yesterday, I wanted to get this off my chest and let it out in the form of this blog entry. So here I go.
Even though, I haven't been a wrestling fan for a lot of years like so many before me, I have watched some of Matt's wrestling matches in the WWE via YouTube (I've been a wrestling fan since 2011) and was impressed. My favourite matches of his were the ones when he was in 3 Minute Warning and a few of the ones when he was paired with the Hurricane. I was really disappointed that he was released from the WWE back in 2006 (as I found out via a little Google search when I did my research a couple of years back) but I hoped that at least he had a good life and career outside the WWE. I was shocked and saddened when I heard of his death yesterday which brings me to the next part of my blog entry.
Celebrity deaths aren't something that would make someone question their mortality and feel compassion for that person's family unless you're someone who follows (occasionally in my case) celebrity news. Besides Matt Anoa'i, there are several celebrities whose deaths bugged me, Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman, David Bowie (although I'm not a fan of Bowie's music) and YouTube personalities Justin "JewWario" Carmical and Daniel Kyre of Cynadgo. I'm going to be brutally honest, out of the deaths that I listed here, the ones that bugged me the most are Carrie Fisher, Daniel Kyre, JewWario and of course Matt Anoa'i's. Why? Because they died too young. In the case of both Rosey and JewWario, they died in their forties (42 and 47 respectively), Daniel Kyre was 21 and Fisher was 60.
It's also how they died is what make me think of not just the mortality of myself and my loved ones but of the pain that the families of these celebs must have gone through (is going through in the case of Joe Anoa'i and the rest of his family) and it made me feel for them. I don't think I'm wrong for feeling like this and I don't care who you are, compassion is something that should be extended to those who need it whether you are a YouTube personality, a WWE Superstar, an actor or just an ordinary person.
Speaking of extending compassion to someone, yesterday as I sent a tweet to Joe Anoa'i on his official WWE Twitter account offering my deepest sympathies to him and his family, I thought back to when my aunt died and of everything that my mom and everyone else in my family experienced before, during and after it happened. It's not something I would wish on anyone not even my own worst enemy.
I will be keeping the entire Anoa'i family in my thoughts during this difficult time and will be sending positive vibes their way as long as it takes.
Treasure the times that you spend with your friends and loved ones and whether someone needs it or not, be kind and compassionate. You never know who might need it and it might bring some measure of comfort and joy to that person even if that someone is a person you might not like.
Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i
April 7, 1970 - April 17, 2017
