John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Whitney Houston

There is an important difference between having talent beyond measure and being a person beyond reach.

I never thought that would be the legacy for pop star Whitney Houston. But it just may be.

I think it was 1985 when I first heard of–and later saw live at Rupp Arena–Whitney Houston. It was a remarkable and unforgettable performance.

She had a God-given gift–a soulful yet cheery voice that filled up the entire arena and left everyone in awe. She was also beautiful, graceful and seemed to “have it all.”

She was, so it seemed, untouchable. There was nothing critical that could be said of this pure-hearted girl raised in the church who was taking her gospel-trained voice and quickly becoming an international pop diva.

But surely not the usual kind of diva, right? Whitney would be different–it was assumed.

But in the end, none of us are different. None of us transcend the temptations, the human failings and foibles that endanger us all.

Whitney Houston died yesterday far too young–and far too unrecognizeable from the person who we were introduced to over 25 years ago.

Why? It wasn’t Bobby Brown, or just drugs, or just ego and the inevitability of success gone to her head, or fans demanding perfection where there is only a woman.

Although Whitney Houston wasn’t “untouchable” she did manage to become “unreachable.” And that is when tragedies, like her untimely death yesterday, are made possible.

It’s not that celebrities are too different or too good or too anything to reach out for help.

It’s that sometimes they cross a line into “believing” they have become something else (maybe a brand, a business line, or just a bigger than life superstar) and have forgotten how to sidle up along the rest of us and say the simple–but painfully difficult– words, “Could you please help me?” And mean it.