She has a point. Why should it matter to the world that the pope died? Why did it matter only to me and my family that my father died? Why did it matter only to yoyotech (Dammit, andrew fix this, will you please?) and her family when her grandfather died?

Good question.

It matters because we came out of the cave.

It matters because we climbed up the hill, and looked out into the valley, and swam the river, and crossed the ocean and reached out into space.

But I did none of those things. We as a species did. Ug came out of the cave, so we came out of the cave. Lief Erikson crossed the Atlantic, so we crossed it. Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, so we walked on the moon.

My father was a wonderful person. Kind, gentle, strong, honest. I didn't know Yoyo's grandfather, but I'm sure some of the same adjectives could have been applied to him. Anyone who lived through World War II in Europe would have become an extraordinary character.

The world is full of extraordinary characters. Some of them we know personally, others we read about, or see on TV. Still others that have gone before we know only through myths and legends: Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Adam and Eve. Isis, Orisis, Thor, Zeus, Moses, Jesus, Allah, Buddha and a host of others.

Within a few decades, people will have forgotten my father, and Yoyo's grandfather. But they will likely still remember the names I mentioned above, if the human race survives. A century from now, they will probably still remember JFK, Gorbachev, Hitler, Stalin, Picasso, Eisenhower, Marilyn Munroe, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ghandi - and Pope John Paul II.

Through their actions, their courage, their strength or weaknesses, their music, their love, or through their hatred, their faith or art thes individuals and others like them altered the course of human history, or changed the way humanity thought about itself.

It matters what they did, because it becomes what we did.

We came out of the cave, and looked up at the stars in wonder.

We wondered about God, and our own place in existence.

For one billion people in the world right now, Pope John Paul II was the point of focus for their beliefs about God. I may personally have disagreed with some of those beliefs, and certainly have a pile of metaphysicals axes to grind with the Catholic Church. But 1/6th of the planet is sad because of the death of the Holy See. So it matters, because that is a big chunk of the 'we'...