When fame is confused with worth

I read a quite frankly ridiculous comment earlier somewhere from someone who wrote that America was "diminished" due to the loss of Whitney Houston at the weekend. I've heard some pretty nonsensical drivel from people on this here Internet [I'll admit to even adding to it], but that one was a doozy.

People, America is not diminished in any way because "one of her most talent daughters" [that was another one] was gone. I'm not saying she wasn't talented, she had a great voice, but America [and the world in fact] lost this talent years ago already when Houston choose drugs and alcohol over her career and descended into the abyss of excess and addiction. This weekend only saw the passing of a sad and pathetic forgotten shadow of a once great talent.

How I long for a day when the media acknowledges true heroes with the same zeal they use to glorify idiotic junkies. Sadly the same media machine like most other days fails to properly acknowledge the losses that truly diminish America - her patriots and defenders who perish in the sands of a distant land as they give their lives to bring freedom, democracy and a better way of life to those less fortunate.

Let us acknowledge the death of US Marine Lance Corporal Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20, from North Arlington, New Jersey, with the 2nd Marine Division, who was killed in action on Friday during an ambush by enemy forces in Helmand province and US Army Private 1st Class Cesar Cortez, 24, with the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command from Oceanside, California, who died in a motor vehicle accident on Saturday in Bahrain supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

You see, anyone with any kind of voice can sing but some are just better than others and society would have us believe that those are to be held in greater esteem. However, a precious few will volunteer to pick up a weapon and fight for what they believe in. Houston, De Oca and Cortez choose dangerous paths that could have - and did lead to their deaths. It's just annoying that the one idiot amongst them will be mourned by the most people.