Saint Valentine? |

Yet, y’all know how my mind likes to wander and find links and parallels. Even on Valentine’s Day. (That’s a holiday for which I was barred from participation as a child, since it was a”St Valentine’s” kind of day.) So, I don’t have a lot of context for this day.

Lo and behold, I alit upon the early death of two major stars from the pop music world, much bigger than Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and even Bad Bunny. (Actually, this was a side thought as I was writing my blog about the recently departed Burt Bacharach.)

Of whom am I talking? Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Souls with much promise, who squandered their talents partaking of drugs of a different sort and perhaps, afflicted with some other problems. MJ died at 50, 14 years ago and Whitney died on the 11th of February 11 years ago. (I know there are many others I could add to this list; I’m not.)

What brought these folks into my focus were their “theme” songs. Michael had written “We are the world” at 27, but the song- in my mind- that epitomized his life was written for him- “The Man in the Mirror” by Ballard and Garret, when he was 40. (By the way, the song that epitomized Frank Sinatra- My Way- was also written for (and not by) him- literally- by Paul Anka, when he was 52.)

Whitney Houston had more than a few hits, too. But, the two that stick in my mind- “Didn’t we almost have it all” (Masser and Jennings) and “The Greatest Love of All” (Masser and Creed)- explain plenty. Not that “I will always love you” by Dolly Parton (yes, really), used by the Grammy’s to honor her, isn’t another great song.

So, think about your life. Where you are going? Where do you want to be?

Are you able to “heed that certain call”? Help insure that “the world must come together as one”? Or will you be singing “Didn’t we almost have it all?” or “Bittersweet memories, that is all I’m taking with me”?

Isn’t it time to be “looking at the man [or woman] in the mirror”? “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that first change…” Because, by now, your thoughts should be “I learned to depend on me”.