I haven't written much since deploying
to Afghanistan, but the latest firestorm of around the clock media
attention to the death of Whitney Houston has forced me to vent a
bit. What better place to vent than my little blog that nobody reads
anyway.
Let me first state that when I heard
that Whitney Houston had been found dead in a hotel that my initial
thought was that it was sad news. A woman with one of the most
beautiful voices I have heard in my lifetime had passed on, like many
other stars, way too prematurely. After a few minutes reflecting on
some of her music that I grew up to, along with some thoughts about
how unfortunate it was that she had chosen to get involved in drugs
and lifestyle choices that ultimately played some part in her
untimely death, I grabbed a cup of coffee and moved on to the tasks
at hand in my day. Yes, that's right...I did not read every story I
could find on the internet about her death. I did not cry. I did
not scream out obscenities towards Bobby Brown or mourn for the next
three days.
As crazy as those actions sound to some
of you, know that a great many Americans did exactly those kinds of
things over the last week. Every day for the last week there was
constant media coverage on all of the news networks detailing Ms.
Houston's life, the events leading up to her death, and every action
by every celebrity who knew her and/or was planning on attending the
funeral. Do I fault the news media for this insane amount of
coverage for what amounts to just another human being? No, I do not.
The news media only gives this amount of coverage to events such as
this because there is a market for it. If millions of Americans
weren't putting their lives on hold to watch every minute of this
idiotic coverage the media wouldn't keep presenting it.
No, our society has become one in which
people care more about the lives of people they've never met, and who
wouldn't give them the time of day if they did, than they do of
themselves, their loved ones, and their own goals and aspirations.
Joe and Jane citizen would rather sit on their couch all day and
watch reality television shows which consist of nothing more than
watching celebrities live their everyday lives than they would trying
to live their own. It's a sad state of affairs and a scary look at
the future of our nation. I remember when I was turning 16. I
couldn't wait to get my license, get a job, get out of my house, and
start living my own life. At the rate we are going we are going to
have an entire generation of citizens that will turn 40 one day, and
wonder why they things haven't turned out the way they imagined. It
will be because they spent countless hours watching other people live
their lives instead of going out and accomplishing things in their
own.
To be fair to Whitney Houston, it is
not an isolated occurrence. The same thing happened when Michael
Jackson died a couple of years ago, as well as any other celebrity in the news for one thing or another. The same thing is happening
every day to Hollywood types that are still alive. A growing number
of people are basically placing these stars at higher importance than
their own flesh and blood, as well as themselves. How else can we
explain Kim Kardashian?? Can anyone explain one major
accomplishment that Ms. Kardashian has had in her life to make her
famous (other than an amateur sex tape)?? Really?? Seriously??
People are seriously neglecting their spouses, children, and their
own lives and careers to keep track of these naïve, immature,
spoiled fools prancing around on our television sets every day. And
then when they meet a shocking, untimely demise, they are mourning
these pompous celebrities as though they are part of their own
family. It's just disgusting and a sad sign of the decay of our
nation.
It's time for people to look in the
mirror, begin valuing themselves and their families, and start living
their own lives. I'm not sure there is a more horrible feeling than
getting old and not having anything to tell your children and
grandchildren regarding your own adventures and accomplishments in
life, because I doubt they are going to be interested to hear about
how much you cried when Whitney Houston died.
In the movie “The Shawshank
Redemption” the line was stated, “Get busy living, or get busy
dying.” This past week is yet another sad reminder that a large
number of Americans are very busy dying.
