Thoughts on Whitney Houston's Death by Kate Johns

Every day millions of people die, and many millions are born. Children are starving, nations are fighting, civil unrest is running rampant in many countries across the globe. So, why are we as regular, non-celebrity millionaires so interested, and shedding so many tears over another drug abusing celebrity's death?
We are mourning the loss of 48-year-old Whitney Houston's death. Okay, some people aren't, they aren't, because we regular people feel like we are a part of Whitney's life.
How is that possible, that perhaps a billion people across the world felt they were a part of Whitney Houston's life? None of us lived with Whitney. None of us ever talked to her, met her or saw her in person, except perhaps on stage.
But somehow, someway we felt compelled to be a part of her life.

Well let's see why we regular folks feel like we are a part of her life. Whitney Houston sold in excess of 170 million albums and Cds. in 20 years. Millions of people listened, danced, fell in love, got married, partied, had fun, while listening to Whitney Houston. Millions of people grew up listening to her music. Still millions more grew into young adults, and matured listening to Whitney sing, "I
Wanna Dance with Somebody." My husband and I  played her songs at many weddings we disc jockeyed at. We danced to several of her songs at our wedding.We had a great time dancing to her pop dance songs and slower, soulful, more tender songs at weddings, and parties.

We as a world witnessed Whitney go from glamorous, beautiful songstress, to a drug addled mess during the late nineties and early two thousands. We essentially saw the fall of someone who had come from a non-Hollywood background. She transcended the barrier between black and white. Whitney sang so beautifully, you couldn't help but stop and listen to her songs. You wondered how she produced that radiant, strong sound from her small, lean body.We did the unthinkable. We fell in love with a superstar. We adored her every elegant move. We listened to her dramatic, glorious voice carry every note to a beautiful crescendo.

Then we watched as that same superstar fell from grace. The girl with the amazingly beautiful voice, married bad boy Bobby Brown.Whitney was caught in a trap, she couldn't get out of. Her once lustrous, powerful voice sounded rough, hoarse, coarse, and it looked as though her career was over.
We watched with shock and horror as yet another millionaire superstar sank into a life gone wrong. We saw it happen many other times with Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Monroe who died from their excessive lifestyles.

But why do we regular people feel we are a part of superstar's life? The main reason we do is because when a superstar becomes a superstar, her or his lifestyle becomes part of our lives. News stations, media, magazines, the Internet with websites and blogs suddenly cover every possible angle of this celebrity's life. Paparazzi follow celebrities everywhere, stalking them by taking pictures of the person until they feel violated. They have to hire bodyguards, and be happy 24-7 even though they are not. The media follows a  huge celebrity around because they can  make money selling the pictures of major celebrities. Photographers, reporters and bloggers stand to make money by following celebrities every waking move.
A well known celebrity becomes public property. Her every move is exposed to the world. That's why we regular people feel we know all about celebrities. We see them everyday at the checkout aisle.
We read about their problems, and their wealthy lifestyles that we can only dream of.