Amy Winehouse

So the news hit today that Amy Winehouse died.  While the reason is still uncertain, most have speculated that it had something to do with drugs.  Just a few weeks back she was booed off a stage because she was completely (and chemically) incoherent.  Indeed she had a long history of being rather vocal about her addiction to drugs and alcohol.

So there will be those who were very close to her work and loved her as a person who will mourn the tragedy of her life - being so talented and leaving us so soon.  In some way there will be a twinge of "if only her gifts could have sustained her."

Then there will be those who will shrug their shoulders and accept it along with the rest of the nonsense that comes out of the entertainment industries we support.  "Those people are all messed up" might be the conclusion of some.

Of course there will be those who leer at her death like those who pass the sports car pulled over by the state police.  "Well, you live like that . . . eventually you die.  She reaped the benefit of her lifestyle.  Not going to rehab? Good luck with that."

I have to admit that each one of these thoughts crossed my mind, but there is something deeper at play here.

Nietzsche framed his theory of eternal return by saying, "einmal is keinmal" or "one time is no time."  What he meant was that if we live and die and this is all there is - one time - then it may just as well never happened at all.  Everything we do has eternally no consequence - so it is "unbearably light" (as Kundera would say).

But for those who believe - since there is a 2nd part, more than once that we live - every moment, every choice has eternal consequences - unbearably heavy.  Yet there enters Christ who comes to lift that burden and offer us grace in the midst of our stupid choices and bad decisions.

And so it is in that spirit that I hope that Amy gave in and accepted that offer . . .