Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

I saw a few posts on Facebook explaining that wanting to do an event, post a photo or write something heartfelt about a deceased musician is in some way wrong. Aside from people jumping on the bandwagon while having no genuine emotion about the artist, I don't think it's possible to grieve wrong.

I completely understand that different people react emotionally in different ways and providing you're not harming yourself or others, go with your particular flow. I have not shed a single tear over some family deaths, and completely lost my shit over people I barely knew, I don't know why, but I do know that it's fine.

If you want to get together with friends, listen to Prince's music, hold hands in a circle and cry, that's fine. If you want to pop a picture of him with some kind words on Instagram, that's fine. If you don't care, that's fine. Who am I or anyone else to tell you that you're doing it wrong?

The Kübler-Ross model, more commonly known as the 5 stages of grief, states that they're are 5 separate stages of grieving, which are (in no particular order): denial, anger, bargaining, depression & acceptance. Tell me where it says 'shoot down people doing it differently than you.', in fact, show me any scientifically backed method or theory that states that. Perhaps, it's just an expression of their anger stage and they just need a hug.

The more interesting thing is that I began to question myself over whether to publicly show my appreciation for Prince after reading those negative, grief nazi posts. I know I don't believe what they are saying but it still had an impact. From what I can gather, it was perceived to be 'not cool' to show too much appreciation. I decided i'd rather be not cool than suppress my emotions based on someone else.

So, in summary, I think you should do what you want, do what you feel, and don't hate someone else for doing it differently. If we were all like you (and me) life would get boring fast.

Josh