Please Do Not Celebrate The Anniversary of Shakespeare's Death

Bardfilm pointed this out to me a couple of weeks ago and I've been paying careful attention to headlines ever since.

"Celebrate The 400th Anniversary Of Shakespeare’s Death In Style," says the Huffington Post this week.

Please don't do this. 

We celebrate his birth, or his existence, or his accomplishments.  We do not celebrate when people die. Can you imagine?  "Phew, thank god that son of a gun is finally dead, huh?  If he'd stuck around a few more years imagine how many he might have written!" 

Commemorate his death if you like. Mark the occasion with much festivity. But celebrate his life, not his death. The world was made a better place because of the former, not the latter.

This has been a public service announcement.