(ThyBlackMan.com) The Greatest Love of All. That was my favorite Whitney Houston song based on the fact that as a first grader, I sang it to my mom to make her feel better when she was sick. For whatever reason, that song struck a chord that left an indelible mark on me. Yet many things I’ve come across in life have done the same. So for me, hearing of Whitney Houston’s death didn’t make me feel any sadder or cause me to clamor about trying to get the scoop on her departure. In contrast, my wife expressed the impactHoustonhad on the lives of herself, sister and mother – reminiscing on how she grew up listening to and watching Whitney Houston as a positive example and role model during her formative years.
While I can respect that and others’ expressed emotions mourning the loss of Whitney Houston, I want to go in a different direction. I don’t want to treat her death as gossip to talk about amongst my peers; speculating on the cause of death or contributing to the banter of the masses who, though they may have grown up with Whitney Houston, didn’t know her personally. Besides, for the most part I tend to take the stance that if I didn’t personally know someone who has died, I don’t have the right to talk about matters of their lives.
Expressing this to my wife, she countered with the sentiment that it’s just sad to have a parent bury their child. Listening to the masses, many seem to feel as though she simply left too soon with respect to her talent. And while these two viewpoints are valid, my question and concern is this: are they more valid and real because of Houston’s celebrity status?
There are countless other nameless individuals who die “before their time” every day – buried by parents and leaving behind children. Countless more have died with tremendous talents either prematurely cutoff or completely wasted before cultivating their TRUE potential.
But what IS true potential, though? Yes – Whitney reached and touched the lives of millions of people worldwide but to what end did she apply her God-given talent towards advancing His Kingdom? Please don’t confuse this point as a thing of judgment. Whitney’s lyrics and presentation (prior to her struggles with drugs) were always decent – rooted no doubt to her church upbringing. But what saddens me the most is that her talents were not sown in such a way to reap the benefits of spreading the Gospel and preparing the land and hearts of people for turning to Christ.
I reiterate – I’m not faulting Whitney Houston for this failure as much as I am going through my own mourning process for the squandered opportunities that happens every time any of us dies before discovering and walking in the purpose that God created us for. Granted, many of us are fortunate enough to discover our talents – as evidenced by the Grammy Awards Show. Yet how many of us, upon discovering God’s talents planted within us, turn around and sow it into the earth to reap an atmosphere fertile enough to prepare the way for He Who is still to come again? How many hearts have been pricked by the talents of others to the point of repentance, reconciliation and the rejoice in the Lord?
This is what I’m reflecting on. For every Whitney Houston, there are millions of others who are dying daily before either being impacted by or impacting the lives of others for the good and glory of God which begins with accepting His Son as their risen Lord and Savior. This to me is a tragedy. This… is the greatest snub of all.
Staff Writer; Reggie Legend
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