Questions about Hunter

In retrospect, it was a little mean to mention that Hunter S. Thompson had committed suicide at the height of my roommates' drunken partying. But I really couldn't believe what I had read, and I had to tell them about it. (Given their states, they may have been equally shocked hearing about it the second time this afternoon...) And I expected fanfare. I expected it to be on the cover of everything. I expected to hear people talking about it on the Judah today. But its a holiday, I guess, and nobody has time for depression. Hell, I don't know, but I know that it didn't even stay a headline in MyYahoo! headlines for more than half a day. Is Mr. Thompson that much a footnote? I never read Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, but I saw the movie, which was enough to send me into undesired flashbacks. I've ready other pieces he's written, but let's be honest. His body of work is varied. Its his voice, his cavalier, maverick attitude that kept his name on our Gen X / Gen Y minds and influence lists for the past ten to fifteen. What does it say about us...to us, that he kills himself? People like that are supposed to stay hard forever, right? Fucking suicide? I wonder if he just lost hope---well, if that's the case, where does that leave us? I think a lot of people looked to him to provide a voice, shed some light. Now, that's gone. So while he, Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf are all having a marvelous tea party up there, we are left down here to try and deal (more alone now) with what's going on here. I hope it was that bad, Hunter. I hope it was worth it.