Ms. Vanderbuilt died...

Character and substance are hard to define, easier to appreciate, and rarely to be perfected. Many of the "rich and famous" have striven to present themselves as the exception to the ordinary, to actually be more wonderful, beautiful, and worthy of our attention. They reach many of their goals, and then, they to, unavoidably, and unjustly, die. Many of them were, and are, "bigger" humans than the average ranger. But the average ranger is, in my not so humble opinion, really superior to them. Without coercion the average person believes, "thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife". The "rich and famous" got the memo, they just didn't believe it applied to them. And it probably didn't. But only because we the people were solid, good, hard-working, child-raising, family-supporting, good people. The rich and famous, torn by mankind's "un-perfectibility", rebelled against the norms, the caring, the hopes of mankind, and scandalized us by doing the attention grabbing foolish things they did for personal attention. I envied their ability to use their wealth to effectively scoff at our "normalcy" and try and force us to attend to their indifference to our normal way of life of working hard, marrying, raising a family, and trying to make a better world. They failed because I would rather be "normal" than a show off trying to tell others I am abnormal, and you should strive to be abnormal too.