I wasn’t going to comment on the whole Whitney Houston thing until my cab driver’s wife told me she thinks Bobby Brown killed her. After going through all that, I came home and someone else wanted to talk about it so, it looks like I need to clear my mind of this then let it go.
Bobby Brown DID NOT kill Whitney Houston. Whitney was an addict who was killed by her inability to control her addiction. Whitney was a “grown ass woman” who made horrible choices all later blamed on Bobby. She had showmanship and beauty but at what point do those two things cease to cover transgressions? Funny how everyone is all, “Oh our sister is gone” and “We’ve lost a family member,” when just the day before she was the butt of your crackhead jokes? Whitney had a problem within herself and her body, a problem that went way beyond a washed up 80′s singer.
When I first logged on the net and saw she was dead I was angry with her. I was angry with her for not keeping her sobriety, for being another statistic, for not getting the chance to completely redeem herself. Perhaps it wasn’t anger I was feeling but more like let down, disappointed. For some reason I took her death personally. I didn’t even read the details of her death. I just logged off and said, “Damn you!” She was someone who could have been a survivor, but lost her chance to be one. That hurts.
The cab driver’s wife and I also discussed one person who continues to inspire addicts and non-addicts and that’s Robert Downey Jr. That man right there was at death’s door! He was the butt of every joke and from time to time still gets a jab or two. But back then his behavior was despicable and wanton. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he couldn’t get himself together. It later dawned on me that no one in their right mind would do what he was doing. By his actions it was obvious that he’d lost complete control. For the first time ever I come close to understanding what it must feel like to be an addict. It wasn’t just his words that made me hear him but his actions. The man was all but lost. His actions showed me that he truly meant it when he said:
It’s like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and my finger’s on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun-metal.” – Robert Downey Jr.
It is my hope that with the loss of this popular singer that all those holding fast to sobriety will continue to do so. I hope that with this shocking tragedy people are strengthened and resolved to keep up their fight to live. I also hope that people will stop and think twice before cracking a joke about the Charlie Sheen’s or the Whitney Houston’s of the world. Do you think those jokes helped any? Do you think they somehow escaped the sting? Is it because they’re rich and famous that it’s okay to laugh at a life ending right before your eyes? Have you no morals? Did you think you’d shame him into sobriety? Let me tell you something, no one is genuinely moved to do right who has shame thrown at him. It is the shame he heaps upon himself that produces lasting action with positive results. Ask Robert Downey Jr. if that’s true.
I’m sorry Whitney Houston died. I’m sorry about how she died. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to celebrate with and for her as she turned her life around. I wish we all could have seen it.
I am with you on this. Whitney was a big presence in my life growing up. I felt sad that even after numerous attempts her illness got the best of her. Addiction really is an illness, one with spiritual/emotional/biochemical/neurological/historical elements, and there is no easy road out of it.
May she rest in peace…
I hate it. I just really hate it. And I hate that people are looking for someone to blame or looking to raise her to saint hood. I hate that the media is looking at this as the death of a star instead of the death of a mother, sister and aunt, and individual. She was a human being, not a just a star.
I hate that people are looking for controversy instead of looking at the situation for what it is. A woman who once had everything lost it all, including her life to unchecked addiction. In the process of living the way she did, she hurt herself and those around her. But nope, people aren’t looking at the personal side of it, they’re looking for controversy and media attention.
I wish peace for the family she left behind. I hope they don’t attempt to charge anyone with killing her. I hope somewhere in their grief is a tiny bit of light that shows them that Whitney had a problem and she fed that problem until she couldn’t anymore. The key word is “she” fed her problem.
I think the reason I take it so personally is because I grew up listening to her and I just hoped she’d get better. I didn’t expect this. I just didn’t. Maybe I don’t keep up with Hollywood gossip enough to know she was this far over the edge.
I just wrote a whole ‘nother entry responding to your comment.
Faith
The thing is, Whitney was addicted to crack, which along with meth is one of the worst drugs around. Crack and meth are pure evil. They take people down FAST. People don’t go like that when they are using weed, or alcohol, or psychedelics. Even cocaine and opiates tend to have a longer time before they ruin a person’s brain so completely that that person has no chance of ever being normal again. Crack and meth can do it in about 6 months. It wasn’t only that she did drugs, it’s the drug she got hooked on that caused things to go so bad so fast, even after she’d been doing well for a while. Pure evil, those drugs are.