Ever since Whitney Houston died I've seen people posting curious things on their FB page regarding her life and death. Let's just agree now that she undoubtedly wasted the last fifteen-plus years of her life and her tragic and untimely death was probably due to her addictions and personal demons. That aside, we are talking about one of the most talented singers who has ever lived, someone who inspired countless numbers of other women, helped open musical doors, entertained millions, and lived what seemed to be a charmed and beautiful life until she fell prey to the many vices of the entertainment business. Who knows what she'd be doing now if she had not have married a complete slime ball who helped with her rapid decline? She'd still be up there with Celine Dion (who might have 1/3 of the talent) and would have deservedly died many many years later as a legend for all times.
A few people said 'Whitney Who?' along with a picture of headstones of fallen soldiers. Unpopular subject and all politics aside, soldiers die. A horrible reality indeed but it's the truth; they sign up knowing that it just may happen and it's an accepted risk. They are true heros for (hopefully) representing and dying for something they believe in but we hear less and less about them now as the 'war' overseas is now something of a dirty secret to forget. People inundated with news of Whitney's death should probably just change the channel and, if they so desire, find a way to show their support for soldiers in a way that does not disparage the death of another person. A person, by the way, who sang the most popular rendition of the American anthem in history, which was done solely to show support for the troops in the first conflict in the middle east.
Other folks mentioned that mothers and women die every day and that she threw her life away so why should we care. Without a doubt, she wasted much of her life since the mid-90s due to the ravages of drug-addiction (something most people know nothing about) but the last time I looked Whitney Houston was a mother, too. There's a young girl whose mother is gone forever. Whitney's mother has lost a child as well. Is that not the very definition of tragic? That is heart-wrenching, regardless of whether you think she wasted her life or not. It is no more heart-wrenching than another anonymous woman dying say of cancer at the age of 48, but the overall result is the same. No one wants to see someone die at such a young age.
So who are we to judge? Since when did we become so callous as a society that we feel we can publicly disparage someone who has recently died? Is it the celebrity's fault that we revere them so much and put them up on a pedestal? Why is it okay to create false idols out of these people but then to act like they are garbage when we realize they are merely flawed and imperfect humans, just like the rest of us? I don't think Whitney purposely tried to become a crack-addict and throw away a gift that we will never see the likes of again, but that kind of thing just happens. A lot.
I'm not a Whitney Houston fan but you don't need to be a fan to realize she had a talent and a voice like no other. As flawed as she was, she tried to get it back together but it would seem the vices won and now she's gone far too soon. Self-righteous indignation is a human flaw as well, and most of us wouldn't know it existed until people decide to cast aside any doubt by publicly and willingly mocking the death of someone else's mother for all to see. Either just let it go or find a better outlet folks.
