<p>Xiggi, that was a beautiful post.</p>
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<p>Yeah, but not all of us have Tiger Blood and Adonis DNA.</p>
<p>If I was still working, I’d use that quote with some of the families I knew, xiggi.</p>
<p>Operation Dessert Storm began and the freeing of Kuwait 10 days before the Superbowl in 1991. The American people were watching the war unfold in real time on their televisions for the first time. We we all on edge as the pounding drums on CNN brought the war to us live 24 hrs a day.</p>
<p>Whitney Houstons powerful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in the beginning of this war was an incredible split second moment that brought millions of Americans to tears and brought the feeling of “one nation” to us at the begining of the war to free the people of Kuwait.</p>
<p>She was an incredible talent. Often times increible talent and artisitic genius come at the expense of other abilities of that person. Maybe Whitney just felt the weight of the world more than many of the rest of us.</p>
<p>RIP Whitney Houston.</p>
<p>I have an idea! Why don’t we design a Sympathy O’ Meter! When someone is sick or dies we can enter information about behavior and choices that the person made that contributed to his or her untimely death! Then the machine can tell us how much sympathy we should bother feeling for that person, and how long the mourning period should be. Maybe Apple could make it into an App.</p>
<p>no matter the reason of death, or the reputation of the person…i believe all should be allowed dignity in death… hold off on the accusations/derision etc for a while anyway?</p>
<p>I just watched the video of Whitney singing the Star Spangled Banner. To go from being so full of life, to this. What a shame.</p>
<p>Agree, parent56. A modicum of respect, regardless of one’s personal feeling about her struggles, is common decency at this time. </p>
<p>Whitney lived in my area for several years. She was in the news for her struggles with her addictions and the law. Some of my personal friends/professional colleagues were involved in her care and her struggles to deal with her issues. This is not an easy path. Have some compassion. Please.</p>
<p>I hope I made it clear in my last post that I feel the same way. Sometimes my sarcasm sends mixed messages.</p>
<p>There but for the Grace of God. go I.</p>
<p>i got it eptr :)</p>
<p>It is sort of interesting how human emotion works. When someone like Whitney Houston causes me to have particular feeling or emotional reaction through her work (National Anthem), her loss at a later time becomes of greater significance to me even though I never met her or have any idea how to measure her character. </p>
<p>I can remember how rotten and sad I felt after Michael Jackson died even though if the rumors about his character were true and he was just some regular person, I probably would not want him living near me.</p>
<p>Good point, razorsharp. I felt the same way when MJ died. I’ll never forget - I found out that he died when we logged onto a computer during vacation to find out my son’s SAT scores.</p>
<p>My mother was a Whitney Houston fan and I remember listening to her when I was very young. I fell asleep listening to her music last night and it reminded me of when I was young and used to do the same thing. For some reason that made her death hit me much harder. It’s amazing how our lives can be so touched by people we’ve never even met. </p>
<p>I hope wherever she is, she knows how much she meant to so many different people and is able to find the peace she seemed to lack in this life.</p>
<p>I’ve been battling cancer for five years and I am in many communities of cancer survivors. One of my fist thoughts when I heard of Whitney’s passing was to feel how unfair it is that someone like Whitney can basically throw a beautiful life away when so many of the folks that I know are working so hard with so much treatment to just get a little more time on earth. We, cancer patients, are always making deals (such a losing a body part or part of a vital organ) in order to have just a little more life.</p>
<p>All that being said, I am still very sorry to hear of Whitney Houston’s passing. Maybe we as a society put too much pressure on our celebrities. We should stop speculating and allow her to indeed rest in peace.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, smug, self-righteous, judgmental types don’t cease to be themselves just because the object of their disdain has died.</p>
<p>So sad, Whitney was an amazing talent. Her beautiful voice will be missed.</p>
<p>Amazing voice. Too young to die.</p>
<p>I posted this in the Academy Awards thread when discussing my impressions of The Artist, which I saw last night, but I’ll repeat here:</p>
<p>As a sign of how our times have changed, we were walking out of the theater en masse when people began looking at their cell phones, saying, “Wow. Whitney Houston died.” People were in the lobby of the theater doing the same. This was about 8pm CST. Do people have alarms on their phones which go off when big news hits?</p>
<p>Smug, hardly…you don’t know one thing about me… Our family volunteers at cancer outreach centers, we worl local food pantries, likley do more for those in need then many of my detractors…The post by Viewer echoes my viewpoint, she ‘had it all’ and blew it…Many people can only wish they had the opportunities to help themselves as Whitney did…i am if the opinion, and it is only my opinion,she was not a true addict, but a lifetime abuser…Is her death tragic? Hardly,… Tragic is one of our soldiers who steps on a landmine while protecting our freedom, and dies…a multi millionairess who fritters away her fortune on illegal drugs and likley dies from drug abuse is not tragic…</p>
<p>I wonder how all her enablers feel now? She was great talent, no question,ut to say her death is tragic is a disgrace to those who actually die a tragic death</p>
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<p>LOL. “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you…”</p>