Why I hope the world will remember Cory Monteith.

I sleep with my iPhone in "Do Not Disturb", which I have set to turn off at 6 am everyday because during the week, that's what time I get up. So at 6:10 am this morning when my friend Catie texted me, the sound woke me up. Then when I read it, I was in shock.

Cory Monteith was dead at the age of 31.

Surely this was a joke. A prank. Like whenever a young celebrity is claimed to be dead. But as I read the news and Facebook and twitter, I was faced with a harsh reality. He really was gone. 

I've been an on and off Glee fan recently. But I've been there since the first episode aired after the American idol finale in may 2009. As I watched it, I knew something special was happening on my tv. 

Glee was important to my generation because it taught the world to accept people who are different than you. It took on big issues like bullying, teen pregnancy, teen suicide and being LGBT. And at the heart of most of those storylines was Monteith's Finn Hudson. 

Monteith helped us learn to love ourselves and each other. 

And for that, I'll be forever grateful.