Last year, "Beard Guy" Mike Taylor, a band member from Walk off the Earth, died suddenly. It took a lot of people by surprise - he was a much beloved member of a fantastic group (an aside: I loved their most recent rendition of Oh Canada prior to Game 4 of the NBA Finals!).
The group has recently released a new song, dedicated to their deceased band mate. I definitely recommend giving it a listen/watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DFgtsWnRQM
The band describes the process of writing this song as a type of therapy, a cathartic process. It's a beautiful song and you can imagine how difficult the writing process would have been for the group.
Listening to it made me tear up.
Walk off the Earth has also been very public with their grief. A few weeks after Mike's death, the group did a free public concert in their hometown of Burlington, ON as a tribute. I attended with my daughter and they were certainly very raw and candid with sharing where they were at. Their openness to sharing their grief was powerful. And because they were public figures, and on a stage, it was acceptable to everyone. The crowds expected and embraced the grief.
When grief is silent, society has a tougher time...it catches us off guard and we just don't know how to react.
On the subject of writing, Megan Devine (@refugeingrief on twitter) hosts a Writing Your Grief course. If it may be helpful for anyone reading this post - you can check it out here: https://www.refugeingrief.com/30daywriting/
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