They tell you they were grieving long before
it was cool. They tell you their grief is more
valid than your grief. They say that they
know how to grieve properly, and you don’t.
They reckon some deaths are more worthy
of grief than others, and that if you grieve the
right people, you are thereby a better person.
If you grieve the wrong people then you are basic,
you are a sheeple, you are fake. They like to
draw your attention to little known deaths that
nobody has heard of, dusting off their memories
like old vinyl in a record shop. Those deaths,
they say, are more deserving of attention than
your deaths. They want you to be sad, but only
in ways they approve of. If you are sad in a
different way then better to be happy instead.
They refuse to go along with the crowd – if
others are crying they will go out of their way
to parade their joy. If others are joyful, they will
point wihering fingers. Pain comes in hierarchies,
they say. Death Hipsters. Each tear carries a value,
each life a worth. And they know how to calculate
it properly, and you don’t. Remember that.
And in your pain, remember that you are wrong.
Joshua Seigal
