Grief goes viral

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/life/rip/index.html?story=/mwt/broadsheet/2010/03/08/grief_goes_viral

Grief goes viral

A 16-year-old girl posts a tribute to her late mother, and the world watches in sympathy Video
By Kate Harding


Between the Internet and reality television, it can seem like there's no such thing as a private -- or even family- and friends-only -- moment anymore. Wedding ceremonies, adorable baby behavior and sibling squabbles go viral, women tweet what's going on with their uteruses, amateur porn abounds and minor celebrity sex tapes are so ubiquitous they're barely news anymore. But at least one category of common human experiences still goes on largely behind closed doors: Dying and grief.

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Now, that's also true even when it happens to a 16-year-old girl no one's ever heard of before. A video made by London high schooler Sarah Phillips to honor her mother, Debbie, who recently passed away from cancer, has gone viral since she posted it on March 2. Part of its appeal, to be sure, is Phillips' voice singing Paulo Nutini's "Autumn"; when you just hear that it's a kid singing a song for her late mother, you expect it to be heartfelt but clunky, so the clarity of her gorgeous, trained voice produces a bit of a Susan Boyle effect. But it's also just a perfectly simple and heartbreaking distillation of grief, the kind of thing we don't often share with others beyond our immediate circles and might not be able to describe to anyone if we tried. This is what we do after a loss, but before we can really carry on; we sort through old photos and memories, we find deep meaning in pop lyrics, we wish the entire world could know how amazing and important this person was and how much it hurts that she's gone. But usually, we do it in private, so as not to make anyone else uncomfortable. Sarah Phillips put it out there so the world really would know -- and so far, nearly 130,000 people have watched. Well done, Sarah. We are all so sorry for your loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIRQvbhdR58&feature=player_embedded

[babydollhead]

1. beautiful