Eulogy for #Prince #RIP

ROTW Contributor: Angela Durden

"When Doves Cry" 

How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that's so cold? (So cold)
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father too bold
Maybe you're just like my mother
She's never satisfied (She's never satisfied)
Why do we scream at each other
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry

You know what they say about being young, don't you? That you will do some stupid stuff. Prince was young once and maybe he thought shocking people was the way to go. Though, in any case, his artistry was always of primary importance.

But he grew up. And he found other things to be more important than his artistry. A growing faith in his Heavenly Father, and helping people, some through music, some through simply believing in them -- these became his focus and helped bring a forceful gravitas to a man in an industry that is sorely lacking and often focused on simply getting. 

Throughout his years, though, Prince was a man of integrity. He believed in doing the right thing and constantly honed the definition of right thing so that it became better and better.

When he came to Atlanta and got so sick he could not perform, I can well imagine that he tried everything in his power to make the show go on so thousands of people would not be inconvenienced. And I bet he was more worried about them than he was about himself. 

But the body has its limits, perhaps the flu got him good, and of all the people I knew who bought tickets, I heard not one grumble about the rescheduled show because they knew he was a man more worried for them. 

Ecclesiastes 7:2 asks those who remain to learn from another's death:  It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.