What's happening?

In light of the recent deaths of Cory Monteith and Lee Thompson Young, I felt compelled to vent.
I loved these two rising stars. I thought they both had potential and were very attractive young men. They were both older than my younger siblings, yet younger than me, and I'm floored by their deaths. I'm not necessarily surprised or depressed about it, in fact, I feel desensitized by the reports. It's like, "oh, another young actor/actress killed themselves. That sucks." and move on with whatever I was doing. It doesn't even seem shocking anymore. My reaction, or lack-there-of, shocks me more than anything else.
I'm not a cold person. In fact, I'm probably one of the most caring, compassionate, and kind-hearted people I know. For me to just shrug off these deaths, floors me.
I was reading about Lee's death today and all I could think about was, "What's happening with our young people? Is this a result from the pussification of our society?"
I remember the first time I heard about the "everyone's a winner" mentality at sporting events or even with school. No child left behind, everyone succeeds and everyone's the same. It's bullshit. When I was younger, you had to prove yourself, work your ass off, and continually show that you have excellence in some avenue of life. The same thing happened when I became an adult, and continues to happen as I age. People are not the same. I suck at sports and marketing. I know this. It's why I'm grateful to the people who know they are strong in these departments. If I grew up without knowing my limitations or how to recognize them, what kind of person would I be today? Would I even be able to cope with my life?
Without the challenges and pitfalls in life, how's a child supposed to develop character and grow into the person they're supposed to be? How do they form coping skills? How many more young people are going to kill themselves or others until we realize that helping children learn how to cope with stress and disappointments is a part of growing up?