As many music fans mourn the death of Whitney Houston, her family and friends gather to celebrate her life. Taken back to her roots and in her church she was remembered. Not as a singer belonging to the world but simply a girl who lived with both the power and vulnerability that comes with saying “Yes” to life.

Life is, as we all know, extremely complex. It holds more questions than answers and expects us to rise to the challenge. We are given amazing opportunities, most of which will fall to fear. Some, like Ms. Houston, possess great talent in their profession and face the fear head on. They are fueled by passion but immense pressure can surface and that can sometimes cause great pain. Often we are not truly prepared for what comes from our wishes or dreams. It can be intense and demanding and not at all what we thought it would be. The definition of happiness changes, love can become convoluted and it can be tough to make healthy decisions. When our world expands it is difficult to find familiarity in our surroundings, we drift aimlessly looking for a recognizable face or just somewhere to land.

The fact is, we don’t know Whitney Houston at all. We don’t need to know the dirty details of her death nor stand in judgement of her life because we have seen this time and time again. What has transpired is not unique and if we were honest many aspects of her experiences (as much as we know them to be) would most likely mirror our own.

We have all stood in front of the mirror and asked ourselves “Why?” We have been in the company of people who did more harm than good. We have traveled down a road that was dark in which we saw no light through the trees. We held on during the roller coaster of emotions and tried desperately to not repeat our mistakes. We strove toward supposed great things only to find they were not as magnificent up close. We reached goals, basked in self satisfaction and gave thanks where it was deserved. We have wanted to pull the blanket over our heads and found ways to dull our senses. We have risen up from the ground and put the pieces of our delicate life back together. We have prayed even when we didn’t believe and knelt down to hang our heads in shame. We all have recognized we were nothing as an individual but powerful as a partner or a community. We saw many examples that money will not buy us happiness; with homes full of things that were meaningless in the end. We’ve been surprised that in what we thought were our poorest times, we were drowning in the richness of love from those that mattered.

I greatly appreciated the voice of Whitney Houston but I will not profess to be a fan. I think it is always disingenuous to pretend that one was, as the hype climbs around a celebrities passing. What I have taken away from all the energy and talk that surrounds this person is that ultimately we are living in concert with each other. It is a masterful work in progress in which we all play our part and each of us are hanging on every note.

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