Sometimes The Hardest Thing In This World Is To Live In It

Words cannot explain why someone young goes before many others in the natural order of things. Why should we expect answers when there seldom are any? With everything else in the world that's so wrong, we face the loss of loved ones, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and occasionally a talent that brings out a fond memory.

39-year-old Michelle Trachtenberg, perhaps best known for playing Dawn Summers in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, was reported dead today. What does that mean to anyone who didn't know her? To some, it won't mean much. To others, it might mean a lot.

Most notably, I remember sitting in the living room watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer with my son, who was just a kid at the time, 20 or so years ago. I first got to know who the actress was when she was cast as the mysterious teenage sister, Dawn, to Sara Michelle Gellar's Buffy. Four seasons in and the hero gets a sister.

Michelle captured the role of an annoying little sister and troublesome teenage girl, putting a cute twist on things. Her scenes were a mixture of fun, emotional, distressing, and scary as she was the target of the big bad of the season, and the Scooby Gang was woefully outmatched until the bitter end.

At the end of the season, as all seemed lost and it looked like the "God" named Glory was about to unleash hell on earth, big sister Buffy came to the rescue. But the Scooby Gang leader and her pals were too late. The world was ending, and there was only one way for it to end without hell on earth.

"The hardest thing about this world is to live in it."

-Buffy (Sara Michelle Gellar)

Not a lot of wisdom comes from teenage theme adventure shows. But at the top of the tower, overlooking the rift between dimensions, Buffy passed on her "last" bits of wisdom to her kid sister before throwing herself into the void to seal the rift.

Probably the hardest thing any of us do in this world is live in it. It's an oddly ugly world, and it's not getting any prettier. People have to work harder and harder to see anything good in the world. Then, on days like today, for whatever reason, a light goes out.

For me, I'll always remember sitting on the couch with my son, watching the episode for the first time. I'd watched each weekly episode with him that I could, and he always filled me in on what I missed if I was stuck working and couldn't be home. That memory has always been special, because as we watched, me at 30 (I think) and my weekly watch partner just a kid; it broke us both into tears.

While her friends, family, and former co-stars grapple with the loss of someone so young, and in such an unexpected fashion, fans will see the news and think about the times they saw her on screen. How many of us laughed during the brash comedy Eurotrip? Those scenes will live on in our memories and our home movie collections for all time.

Watching two teenagers away from home before starting their college adventures was great. Factor in a couple more friends and wacky hi-jinks ensued across countries and continents. It taught kids in high school the dangerous side of Absinth, especially considering the unfortunate make-out scene where Michelle's character makes out with her brother.

From her television career to her time on the big screen, as fleeting as it was, she left behind some good memories for the world to enjoy, whether she knew any of us or not. As her family and closest friends grieve and the cause of her death is determined, it'll be a hard time for them more than any. To the rest of the world, this is what it feels like when an actor or someone on screen passes on. It kinda sucks when a member or a figure from those special moments in your life is gone.