Internal Voice of a Fangirl

Heroes

Maybe in 50 years all of the human heroes we know and love will be gone. Maybe in 50 years the actors and musicians that we obsess over will be gone. Maybe in 50 years the children of then won't know the impact of an actor's portrayal or a character, or the lyrics of a musician's song. Maybe the heroes we see today are truly only momentary blips on the timescale of the universe.

But tonight matters too. If you want to listen to that song one more time because the lyrics resonate in your soul, then do it.
This week matters too. If you need to watch that movie again because the message hits you where you need it, then go for it.

Maybe our heroes; our singers, our actors, our authors; will be gone in 50 years. Maybe their impact in pop-culture will disappear as time progresses, but their impact on you cannot leave.

A day will come when our heroes are gone from the world. Their loss will sting us down in our core. We will mourn for them as painfully as we once wished to meet them when we were young.

But their story will live with us as long as we are willing to tell it.

Maybe one time you met them at a Comic-Con, and got them to sign their movie poster.

Maybe one time you saw them in a concert and maybe they addressed the crowd when they said "I love you," but after so long you felt accepted.

Maybe one time you just saw them on the streets and you were able to talk to them and you broke down in tears to finally meet the person who had done so much for you.

Their story lives on in the memories we have of them. Their story lives on in the pages of fanart we've made of them. Their story lives on in the story upon  story and page after page after page of fanfics that we've written for them.

Maybe one day our heroes won't be here anymore.

But because of them we'll still be here to feel that loss.

Our fandoms never die as long as we're here to carry them on.

So in tribute to the heroes; the actors, the musicians, the authors: we won't let you be forgotten. You saved us so we'll save your legacy.

One day you'll be gone and millions of people over the world will mourn. We may have never met these other people but we'll all feel the same in these moments. We'll hear the news on the radio and drive our kids to school with tears in our eyes and silent sobs in our throats. We'll be at work and get a text from a friend with the news and have to take our lunch break early as we absorb the news. We'll be eating dinner watching the evening news and we'll hear the name followed by the three words we always dreaded would come.

"... has passed away."

We had deactivated our fan accounts years ago. We hadn't listened to any of the new songs or watched any of the new movies or read any of the new books. But we still remember. We still feel the hope they gave us long ago. We remember the community the fandom had for us. We remember what it meant to be a fan.

We'll open up our old accounts and talk to our old friends for the first time in eons. The time won't seem to have passed. Because we all had the same heroes. We all belonged. We all had each other. And we won't let our heroes die forgotten because the fandoms never die.

Because even if they can't shoot webs, control lightning, build super suits, or control time in the real world, they have done so much more for us.

Because after all this time, the fans still lives within us, buried inside our souls.