Whitney Houston

Last night I had some weird dreams involving big black guys with drug problems.  It must have been because of all the news on Whitney Houston.  Every 10 minutes, on the ones, there would be an announcement that her body was being flown back to New Jersey, and I had a very long drive home last night.  Sunday night there were countless news stories about her life as well.

       It is a sad story, 48 years old and gone, all that beauty and talent quieted forever.

       I was not surprised to hear of her death, with her story of drug abuse plastered all over the newsstands these past 10 years, it seemed inevitable to me.  A little bit more of the story comes out with the passing of hours.  Prescription pill bottles, submerged in bathwater, “family member” or “body guard” removed her from the bath . . . ah, there were others in the hotel room?  If they found no drug paraphernalia maybe that’s the reason why.

       I have a young friend on Facebook who doesn’t wish to believe that it was drugs until it is proved.  I actually understand why she is feeling that way since I’ve felt that on occasions too.  But life experience tells us when things are inevitable.  I think a better plea to the public is not to judge but to have compassion for all the victims who end up going down the same sorry path to destruction.

       No, this is not a rant against drug dealers (that is for another time).  This is to ask the question “why”?  Why do people start with the drugs?  I honestly do not get it.  With all the information available about drugs, with the school campaigns, good grief, with the pictures of what crystal meth does to a person’s teeth alone . . . no, I do not understand why anyone would take the first puff of marijuana never mind taking the other stuff.  I do know that some young people begin because they are in pain about other things in their life, but I ask, why aren’t you going to a counsellor?  Why is taking a pill easier than talking when you have heard what “drugs” will do to you?

       No, I do not get it.  But most especially, I do not understand how celebrities become addicted.

       All right.  I do.  They are stupid.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

       Whitney Houston was a beautiful, beautiful woman with an absolutely amazing voice.  She had charisma and talent like few are given.  I do not know when she began on drugs, but she had many opportunities to break her habit and yet somehow she always slipped back.  If she had healthy, decent people surrounding her would that have happened?  Is this the same story as Elvis and Michael, a woman who has surrounded herself by sycophants who used her and abused her?

       Am I judging her after all?  No, I am just angry because just as everyone else who goes down that slippery path YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.  I’m sorry, I’m sad, but I am also angry.