Gov. Christie Got This One Wrong.....

Up until today, I have been a big supporter of Gov. Christie. I think that he has taken some necessary hard lines on budget issues that were in desperate need of direction. But this morning, I learned that the Governor has ordered that all flags at state buildings be lowered to half-staff on Saturday to honor Whitney Houston, and I think he is wrong on this one.

I will preference the rest of this statement by saying I think, at one time, Houston was a tremendous talent! Her rendition of the national anthem at the Super Bowl during the Gulf War brought me to tears. She was beyond compare at one point in her life. But somewhere along the way, she lost herself to world of drugs and alcohol. The pictures that depict her as disheveled, frighteningly thin, sweating and scared are, unfortunately, what most of America will remember.

If you disagree, try this, close your eyes and picture Michael Jackson.  Do you see the handsome, strapping, dark-skinned young man that went solo from his brothers singing group, or the pale, thin, timid man with facial features that can almost best be described as disfigured? He also died depended on drugs. Drugs so strong they had to be administered intravenously just so he could do the simple act of sleeping.

Whitney, herself, said, “I am my own demon.” She knew actually what she was doing and continued to do it anyway. I understand that drug and alcohol addiction are a disease that some people just can’t overcome. Still, others find their way out and stay out. The fact that Whitney Houston could not give up the demon, is a loss to all of us.

And still, with that being said, I think the lowering of our flag to half-staff in her honor is a mistake to those who gave their lives in service to our state, and to those who spent their lives in dedication to representing our state in the most positive, prominent manner. Even (maybe, especially) to those who have been to hell and back and managed to find it within themselves to still shine a light where there was nothing but darkness before. Recognize that. Honor that, Governor Christi.

The lowering of a flag, any flag, is the symbolic gesture of a dignified bow to someone who spent their life representing the good in all of us. The governor missed the mark on this one.