Why The Death of Monty Python Star Terry Jones Hits Hard

I understand that celebrities aren't our "friends." We don't really know them but sometimes one of them passing hits you hard. This was one of those for me.

Monty Python is one of those things that you either understand or you just don't. Their humor is different, it's silly, it's unnecessary, but it was something I understood. I remember "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" being one of the first movies I could quote to my friends. "Life of Brian" giving us a motto I still live by, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." A lot of that was because of Terry Jones.

I think one of the reasons why Jones' passing hit me so hard was the circumstances. He had been diagnosed with dementia in 2015, something that my Grandmother suffered through. To know that someone with such a creative mind could be taken from us because of an awful disease breaks me. He made so many laugh for so many years and he didn't remember all of it.

People have a lot to say about Monty Python, basing their comedy on one movie, saying it's too silly. For me, it's a chance to just laugh. No worries on political humor or whether the comedy is offending anyone or anything, it's just funny for the sake of being funny and part of what made that magic, a big part, passed away last night. Thankfully, we have clips, movies, and television shows to just keep doing what Jones would have wanted people to do upon his passing - laugh.