There are no less than five full pages

in this morning's state newspaper which are devoted to the death of a young football player.
I have not read them and I do not intend to read them. I heard about it on the news service. There was a good deal said there as well.
It is sad when any twenty-two year old dies. They should still have their life stretching ahead of them, full of hope. At twenty-two I headed off to London for a year. It was, despite all the problems I faced, the best year of my life. I was half a world away from my mother. I would happily have stayed in London forever. Going back to Australia was the hardest thing I ever did, especially when my career plans were halted by events outside my control.  But, I have still done things. I even went back to London for a bit.
The young footballer was not that lucky and I am sorry for him and I am sorry for his family and his team mates. But, I still think the fuss made by the media is wrong. If you have read yesterday's post you will perhaps be able to guess one of the reasons why. Far more has been made of this one young footballer than all are Paralympians combined.
The other reason is that this sort of coverage is not about genuine grief on the part of the media or the rest of the population. We can feel sorry and even concerned but we don't feel the grief the family or close friends might feel.
Perhaps there is something wrong with me but I feel a good deal more concerned for the two young girls holidaying France who have lost their parents and their maternal grandmother. They will never, like so many other children I have heard about, recover fully from their experience.
There is also the young Syrian boy they managed to get out last night. His parents are dead, his two brothers are dead. He has lost both legs. He's nine and he is worrying about his seriously injured sister - and whether he will still be able to play soccer.
I know about far too many children like that.
And another friend of mine has just written a piece on her blog about the way she has just lost a friend. She turned the comments off so people would not comment. I can understand that but I wish she was not on the other side of the world so I could just give her a silent hug instead.
Sometimes we use too many words.