Whitney Houston
This is going to be such a brief post, more of a drive-by rant, if you will. Whitney Houston died suddenly on Saturday. Her music has been in high rotation on my playlists for years, I can possibly even say close to two decades. I was shocked, and saddened by her death, which also led to disappointment. I consider myself to be a very compassionate person, I feel the pain of others, and when someone dies, my heart aches for their families and for their loved ones.
Whitney Houston had a tumultuous life, to say the least .She struggled with addiction, with abuse, and probably with a host of other things that the majority of us can not even begin to understand. After her death, just like after the deaths of other celebrities like Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, I am always so disgusted by the lack of compassion for others. One friend of mine posted on facebook, hours after we found out that she had died, that she does not understand how people can be shocked and sadenned when a drug addict dies. Another friend said that if you are going to have compassion for Whitney Houston, remember to also have compassion for "normal" people, as normal people have similar struggles to.
The first comment enraged me. How can you do anything BUT feel compassion for someone who led a life like Whitney Houston's. The fact that someone lives a life FILLED with struggle does not make their life ANY less valuable and ANY less tragic. She has a child, a family, and friends who's lives now feel like they are over because of her loss, and that is a joke, or a mystery to some? How? How do you know that one day you will not be standing beside a member of your OWN faimly who is struggling with addiction, who is caught in a bad relationship, who is abused, or struggling with any other kind of illness?
And the second comment just made me wonder about whether people think before they type, or think before they speak. Yes, I understand that if you are going to feel sadness or sympathy for one person who is struggling, then it should be in your heart to feel the same for others going through the same/similar struggle. But I have issue with the word "normal." That if we feel for her, we should also feel for those who are "normal." What is normal? Sadly, a lot of what she went through is normal in the Hollywood World, how about some sadness for that fact?
Whitney Houston had a tumultuous life, to say the least .She struggled with addiction, with abuse, and probably with a host of other things that the majority of us can not even begin to understand. After her death, just like after the deaths of other celebrities like Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, I am always so disgusted by the lack of compassion for others. One friend of mine posted on facebook, hours after we found out that she had died, that she does not understand how people can be shocked and sadenned when a drug addict dies. Another friend said that if you are going to have compassion for Whitney Houston, remember to also have compassion for "normal" people, as normal people have similar struggles to.
The first comment enraged me. How can you do anything BUT feel compassion for someone who led a life like Whitney Houston's. The fact that someone lives a life FILLED with struggle does not make their life ANY less valuable and ANY less tragic. She has a child, a family, and friends who's lives now feel like they are over because of her loss, and that is a joke, or a mystery to some? How? How do you know that one day you will not be standing beside a member of your OWN faimly who is struggling with addiction, who is caught in a bad relationship, who is abused, or struggling with any other kind of illness?
And the second comment just made me wonder about whether people think before they type, or think before they speak. Yes, I understand that if you are going to feel sadness or sympathy for one person who is struggling, then it should be in your heart to feel the same for others going through the same/similar struggle. But I have issue with the word "normal." That if we feel for her, we should also feel for those who are "normal." What is normal? Sadly, a lot of what she went through is normal in the Hollywood World, how about some sadness for that fact?
Comments
Post a Comment