Opinions Are Like...

It's certainly an interesting time of year... On top of some crazy things that are going on in my life, here in NJ, it's a warmer winter than usual, and we are dealing with the death of another celebrity, Whitney Houston.

No one can doubt that Whitney had an amazing talent, but a lot of people are complaining because Governor Christy decided to fly the flag at half mast for her. Whether or not it's right to do that, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, certainly, celebrities, especially ones with singing talents give up an awful lot of themselves for the sake of entertaining the masses. They are, however, compensated with lots of money, because that's what we do - we buy the albums, we buy the t-shirts, we go to the concerts.

I think what bothers me is the idea that people feel like we need to take away from group A (celebrities) in order to properly honor group B (the military). Hell yeah - I want to celebrate the lives of service men that lost their lives in war, and I want to appreciate them when they come back from places like Iraq, Iran and Afganistan. I want to see a ticket tape parade for them in NYC.

But why is it that we should deny a flag at half mast for Whitney Houston or a ticket tape parade for the New York Giants because we feel bad that we didn't do enough for the soldiers? What does one really have to do with the other? Unfortunately, I don't know the names of every soldier wounded in battle, and maybe that's wrong. I do know the names of Whitney Houston and Eli Manning. I think they're both amazing and their work means something to me. They gave up being an ordinary person like me (and there are benefits to being ordinary!) so that they could do great things. Why shouldn't we honor them?

Why can't we honor celebrities AND the military? Would it take away from George Washington if we celebrated the life of Whitney Houston? Instead of wanting to diminish the celebration of a celebrity, shouldn't we just treat the soldiers like celebrities? I mean, let's just do it. When a soldier dies, fly the flag at half mast in his home state. In his hometown. When a soldier comes home from war, have a parade, a concert. Have benefits for wounded soldiers. Do it all!

Why not?