September 1, 1997 (Megan is 16)

Princess Diana died in a car crash Saturday night in Paris. It was all over the front page, and everyone’s talking about it. The paparazzi were chasing the car. That’s the only part I find very sad. That they don’t even care; their souls are sucked out of them… Everyone’s saying how horribly sad it is Diana died. I think it’s sad someone died, but I never knew her so it doesn’t affect me so much. Funny how no one mentions the chauffer or the man she was with, both of whom also died. It’s like her life was more important. This is what you get when you’re famous, your life is worth more than everyone else’s. It’s sad to think some people would, given the choice, save Diana over a member of their own family, or a friend.

[My cousin] told us about a rafting trip she and a bunch of friends went on in Quebec. When they first got there, they went swimming in this spot by the river where they’d gone swimming before, in the several other times they came down with their school. One of the girls got caught in the current and swept downstream. The others tried to get the owners of the place to help, but they said it was none of their business. The kids tried to use the phone to call the police; the Quebec police wouldn’t do anything, and then the owners kicked them off the phone. The pay phones were out. The police didn’t come for five hours and only then because the owners called about one of the kids, who was really upset and being disruptive.

They found the girl’s body three days later. She didn’t even make it to the Star.* That is sad.

—

*a major newspaper

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