I didn’t think I would start the week feeling the need to write about Whitney Houston but after reading what people have posted on Face Book I felt the need to connect some dots.
The first memory I have of Whitney is hearing the song “I wanna dance with somebody” and when I saw the video it was an instant crush! I never have said that to anybody because I always thought it was silly to have a crush on someone that you would most likely never meet. As the years went by I’m sure we all know the stories and rumors but it was obvious that at some point things were just going the wrong way. A few years back I remember seeing her sing on an awards show and she looked like she was having a hard time but she sprayed the audience with her emotions and gave it her all needless to say everyone stood up once she was done.
What did we expect to happen to someone that is hit with sudden fame and the roller coaster ride that Hollywood is? They are expected to dive into a life style that turns their lives into front page news to keep the people interested…or someone else’s pockets lined with cash. A couple of years ago I read a story about a professional athlete that has retired (think he’s only 42 at the time) and how he is hired to come into team locker rooms to meet with rookies on how to handle their newly found wealth. The former Pro said that he had seen so many others throw away millions of dollars on useless things or would invest in businesses that ended up being a scam. He said that when sudden fame hits you and you have all of this money it becomes an addiction and what happens to addicts? They get used at some point.
A few Blogs back I wrote about how cocaine is basically the butt of every joke with movie and rock stars at these comedy roasts that they do to each other. How is it that you can joke about someone being high on cocaine on stage then cry when they die from an overdose? I’m not saying that this is what happened to Whitney but within that circle of “Hollywood” is it to anyone’s surprise that people may fall into some sort of drug abuse? What is it about Hollywood that drives people into these self-destructive behaviors?
I didn’t keep up with day to day news about Whitney but I knew what everyone else knew and that is that she had some drug problems in the past. I then think about people in the hood that have similar drug problems and it is amazing that the wealthy and the poor have such a strong connection. I’ve known some habitual drug users and their stories are all based on feeling like they never became who they wanted to be. Some wanted to go on to college and travel the world so they could say they left the hood and saw what the world was about. Some wanted to work hard and get noticed within the community as someone that is dependable and a pillar of that community. Others wanted to be a professional of some kind and one day be sitting on their yacht talking about how they came from the hood and look at them now. But one day they found this drug and well 35 years later it’s them and that drug that have walked around in circles wishing for the opportunity to make a few dollars so that they can take the kids to Six Flags Great America in the summer and buy them the new video game for Christmas. I’ve watched the “Where are they now!” shows on VH1 and I’ve heard similar stories from former artist that wished they had become something bigger than what they once were. What is it about our society that doesn’t allow us to appreciate what we do have and acknowledge that we, at the very least, have the chance to try new things that many others around the world can only dream of?
There are few artists that have made the choice of not living in California and some have even moved out of the country and that sends a huge signal that if you have to leave a state to avoid certain things then there is something terribly wrong there! Will we see the day that “Hollywood” takes a stand against drugs? I don’t want to put all the blame on one spot but I think most would agree that if Hollywood stopped the drug abuse they participate in it would have national affects. There will be some artist that will say that they do not take drugs and it’s not fair to blame all of Hollywood but here’s the thing, we are all responsible in community and if you see something going on it is within your responsibility to stop it or at the very least address it. The one person that has gotten away with ridiculous violations of the law is Robert Downey Jr. and there’s video of him just laughing in court as if it was not serious. Now that’s in his past and haven’t really seen him go off like he has before but the fact that judges would release him from jail to allow him to film a movie was irresponsible of the court system. So we have complacent judges, studio executives, and many others supporting the destructive behaviors that some of these artist have exhibited. What do we do? Do we care to do anything about it?
We watch their movies, we listen to their songs, we buy their books, we buy tickets to their concerts but, at the end if they die from an overdose or have had a history of drug abuse and have fallen out of fame and we actively forget about them are we really sad that they have passed on?
When will we see people start dying from old age? Tony Bennett has suggested that we should legalize drugs because we are losing so many artists and to think that we have reached that point of reasoning is outrageous. I support the end of the demonizing of Cannabis simply because no one has ever been reported dying of an overdose from smoking weed! How many have died after a night of drinking? I don’t think we should run out and encourage people to smoke weed but it’s not what’s causing the deaths when we talk about drug abuse.
Drugs is like any other business if you kill the demand the supply will go away but the trick is convincing people that they don’t need to use to feel better. I don’t expect to ever eliminate drugs but we can reduce the demand and once that happens there will be a spike in price and those that want to do those drugs will have to pay a lot more than what they are paying for it now. One thing I’ve learned from drug addicts is that once that price goes high their high for it comes down. That would mean we would have to be a society that is ready and willing to help people achieve sobriety without any self-interest of profit.
I’m sure that there were many people around Whitney that helped her and what drives ANYONE into a state of depression or sadness is the expectations that other people put on us. Did people just accept her for where she was at in her life? I’m sure there were plenty of people that did…Why did Whitney leaves us now is an answer we will never have. I’m sad when anyone dies and it doesn’t matter if they’re famous or not or if I knew them or not the fact that they are a person is enough for me to shed a tear for them and pray for their Peace.
Bishop Carlton Pearson is a celebrity in his own right and has since fallen out of grace with the people that “loved” him so much and it had nothing to do with drugs. He decided that ALL people should be loved and accepted no matter what traditional church has taught us and all these people that “loved” him walked away. Every so often I hear someone come up to him and say “we need you to do those events again…” or “we need you to do that type of music again…” and I’m thinking why haven’t you asked him what he is doing now? Can’t you appreciate where he is now? I know that he won’t go into a self-destructive mode but I find it disrespectful of coming up to someone and asking them to go backwards for your own pleasure. There is a need to preserve what he has done in the past but to ask someone to go back and do that again for YOU is really a selfish request. The times that people have responded to those types of request there was always someone that said “I suggested it to them to do so…” and there’s the proof of the selfishness.
Artist in our society should be respected for who they are because they bring an expression of humanity that we may have never seen before and it helps us understand ourselves better. If you think about songs that Whitney sang what emotions does that bring out? “I wanna dance with somebody” made me feel like I could dance and enjoy it but dancing was unfortunately discouraged by an adult in my life. To this day I do not dance and I feel it when I hear that song and many others I feel like I haven’t lived until I can dance freely. Why would I want that person that brought those deep emotions live a life of drug abuse and sadness? It’s sad that we as a society couldn’t just say Whitney we love you and don’t worry about being on top it’s really not important. Do you think that you can tell someone in your life that you love them for who they are no matter what?
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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