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Heath Ledger died today at the age of 28. The Academy Award-nominated Australian actor led a very promising career starring in such films as Ten Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, Brokeback Mountain, and finally as the role of the Joker in the new Batman movie The Dark Knight to be released this summer.

It always saddens me when a talented person dies before their time. I see (as I'm sure most of you see) the potential of these young celebrities, and it's a shame when that potential is extinguished. We are left trying to understand why someone with such a bright future can be taken from us.

I think that we as people are always looking for a hero, someone to root for, and expect great things from, despite what the news reports show on tv. When I speak of hero, I don't mean Superman, or the person saving people from burning buildings. I speak more specifically of a person who is genuine, strong, capable of great things, a leader, and a good person.

When I think of Ledger, I think that Ledger was a person people could root for. He was a celebrity that hadn't succumbed to the corruptibility of a celebrity lifestyle, unlike so many of his young peers, and I believe we admired that. This is why it shocks us when such a person is gone, because it wasn't expected in any way.

So often we see in the media, the spectacles of crazed celebrities, that the good ones, the ones who live admirable lives, go unnoticed. I despise our media for focusing only on the negative side of people and society. It insults me that the media treats us like we're gluttons for misery, suffering, and human embarrassment. This isn't true for me. I want to be told about the good news as well as the bad. I would like to see our great celebrities recognized in the spotlight before they die or do something to hurt their reputation.

Unfortunately, this probably won't happen. I tend to believe that the greatest people in this world tend to go unnoticed, and it is only in their deaths, in retrospect, that people truly appreciate the contributions to the world these people left behind.

I hope that Heath Ledger has gone to a better place, and my condolences go out to his family and friends. He will be missed.

Learn more about this author, Alex Landis.
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