Caring For The Dead

Phil O'Donnell, a 35 year-old Scottish footballer, collapsed and died on the pitch at the weekend during a match between the team he played for, Motherwell, and Dundee United.

His death is tragic any way you view it: a fit and talented athlete; a husband and father to 4 young children; a young man. The manner of his death was traumatic: during a game of professional football, with his wife and children in attendance, along with just over 5000 other people.

His teammates, and the players from the opposing Dundee United team, are numb with shock. Football has been put into perspective; the famous quote from legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly about football being more important than life and death clearly proven to be a complete nonsense.

Tributes have been pouring in from clubs, fans and players all over the British Isles and beyond. Grown men have shed real tears. Football matches in Scotland are being postponed in his honour. Scottish newspapers and news websites have given extensive coverage to his life and given space for many managers and players to pay tribute to O'Donnell. By all accounts he was the most pleasant, kind and unassuming man you'd ever be likely to meet - famous and wealthy professional footballer or not.

I cried myself when I heard about it. I felt shock and deep sadness. My thoughts went directly to his wife and children.

Yet four other people died in Scotland at the weekend in car crashes, and another couple in violent, alcohol fuelled attacks. These people's deaths were covered in one paragraph, and outside of their nearest and dearest few people will be mourning them.

And all over the world, every second of every minute of every hour of every day, people die as a result of poverty, war, domestic violence, gang violence, traffic accidents and various other ways. Most of these people barely get a mention.

Phil O'Donnell was famous and talented. The collective outpouring of grief and commiseration is fitting and appropriate. But if only human beings could collectively care about everyone whose life is taken from them suddenly, tragically and inexplicably. If the human race could care for everyone, not just the famous and talented. If they could, wouldn't it make for a better world?

I wish Phil O'Donnell hadn't died. I wish his family and friends all the very best, now and in the future, as they attempt to come to terms with the shock and the sudden loss. And I wish his wife and children all the help, support and love they need to be able to recover and carry on with their lives. Most of all, though, I wish everyone cared for everyone else the way so many thousands of people have demonstrated they care for Phil O'Donnell.