I really don’t know what to say. I’ve used the word “shock” so many times that it’s become ineffective. One minute I’m watching a movie, and the next, my friend is texting me that he just read Chadwick Boseman had died. I was confident that this had to be a joke. I had just sent said friend a link to an article about “things you may have missed in Avengers: Endgame” and ten minutes later, he’s telling me this awful news. It didn’t feel real. It STILL doesn’t feel real. And it doesn’t feel right either. At 43 years old, Chadwick Boseman lost his four-year battle with colon cancer.
Boseman never told the public about his ongoing battle with cancer. As the news hit all the major sites, stories about the late actor started to come out of the woodwork. Pictures of the actor visiting children in the hospital, who were sick with the same awful disease, while he was going through his own suffering hit me the hardest. I didn’t know someone that selfless existed. Someone who gave without needing anything back, who took on his job of a role model without protest, and never took that job for granted. He lived life to the fullest, even when he knew his time was limited.
In my talks with friends and loved ones, the one question that kept coming up was “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Why do good people suffer? It would be so easy to say that I could think of plenty of other people who should’ve suffered from this terrible disease before him, but that’s because it’s a defense mechanism. One that many, if not all, have experienced when losing a loved one. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that just even asking that question is a disservice to your loved one. Let’s face it — there’s no answer to it. It’s life. With every life, there is death. It’s hard to even think about sometimes, but it’s something that none of us can run away from. It’s brutal and it’s scary, but it’s there. I’ve found that it isn’t until after their passing that you realize how much your loved one affected you and your character — shaping who you are as a human being. Let me be clear, though. Suffering is never okay. I never want anyone to suffer. I don’t think many of us do. But watching someone, especially a loved one who is suffering, take on life like a boss is one of, if not the most, life-changing experiences a person will ever go through. Bad people wouldn’t rise to the occasion in the face of suffering. I think history has proved that. And I think that just within these past few days, we have seen what Boseman stood for — a man who rose to the occasion, through and through.
To be honest, I’m surprised how much Chadwick’s death has affected me. I never knew him, only his work, but as stories have come out since his passing, it is so clear that he was unfailingly kind, radiated positivity, and was an all-around good man. It’s only been three days since his passing, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. That means something. It means he reached me. He reached so many in a way that few people can. All I do know is that his legacy will live on, and that’s because his character — who he was as a human being — will outweigh any character that he could play on the screen, and boy did he leave us some goods ones. From Jackie Robinson to James Brown to King T’Challa, these roles are only a small overview of how talented this man really was. He had so much more to give, but in his short time, he gave so much beyond just entertaining us. Boseman gave everything he had and more without complaint. How many of us can say that? If that doesn’t make you feel like you can do more, I don’t know what will.
People like him don’t come around very often and it’s not fair that his life was so short. But Thank God he was here. Thank God that for forty-three years, he graced us with his goodness, his talent, and the perfect example of what it is to be a decent human being. A role model to so many, he will not be forgotten.
He was one of the good ones.
God Bless Chadwick Boseman.
Rest in Peace. Rest in Grace. Rest in Goodness.
***I do not own this photo
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