Amy Winehouse: another victim of drug addiction, so it was reported. A young, so young a singer. Beautiful from what I have seen of her in pictures. Acclaimed artist, talented, so much future in the field of her art that is music. Found dead on July 23, 2011 at her home in north London. She is said to have joined the "27 Club," a list of music legends who have died at this young age after periods of battles with either drugs or alcoholism resulting in overdose of such or as a result of a fatal mix or a combination of different kinds of drugs: Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Brian Jones, all dying at the age of 27. But why 27? A conspiracy of the times? One can never explain.
I never knew Amy until now; never heard her singing; never knew how tragic was her personal life just as I never knew the lives of those other 27-year-olds till now. Except for Kurt Cobain whose name was turned into a verb by a columnist when this columnist had ended her eulogy with the caution, "Please, do not Cobain." I never knew them personally nor even knew their existence until tragedy ended their lives, but their deaths haunt me and I weep for them. These are not only the children of their parents: they are our children. Would that somebody had reached out to them, prayed for them, cared for them. Would it have made a difference? Could it? -Blanca Datuin
