Indeed there is never really any good time for someone to pass. There were definitely more shocking deaths this year than I can remember, but I also remember back in 2003 there was a run of a lot of famous deaths. Like I said, it happens in generations. That isn't to say it explains why so many had to go so young, but it does show how the passing of generations can move in waves. It sucks.
But I was also reminded, through a friend's Facebook post today, just how unfair it can be to label 2016 as "the killer." A friend, who is a local comedian, posted a status saying that Facebook has become "who has 2016 killed today?" referencing Carrie Fisher, and one of his friends emotionally went off, not on him, but on the trend of cursing this year for "taking so many celebrities." To most of us, today we lost Carrie Fisher (and two other celebrities), but this girl happened to lose her mother, suddenly and unexpectedly. And she did not attack my friend at all, but in her grief, her emotions got the better of her and she felt offended, because people were cursing this year for taking people they barely knew, while she sits there grieving over her own mother. I can see her point, and to her credit she kept her composure and clarity within what I can only imagine to be immense, immeasurable grief and sadness.
It's just something to consider, in the grand scheme of things.
And please don't take this thought vomit as any sort of detraction on Carrie Fisher's passing or anything of that sort. Just what I felt was a rather important bit of perspective.