Anna Nicole Smith

You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

--Revelation 3:17

A woman died today, one who had money, fame and good looks. She had everything—and nothing. Here was a woman who seemed to go every which way in her public and private lives to gain “love” but it seemed to elude her nonetheless.

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

--1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The type of love discussed here is the agape sort: the “divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, thoughtful love”--and the one person who probably loved her in this manner of his own volition died in September of 2006.

All her perceived blessings, listed above, could not bring her son Daniel back, so what good were they, really? And what did she have to cling to in her grief?

I’m betting that Ms. Smith recognized the magnitude of what she had really lost, but did not know how to get it again and did not realize that God had handed her a way of finding that sort of love again in the person of her newborn daughter.

Oh, I made fun of Anna Nicole Smith as much as the next person, but her death at a young age and under questionable circumstances is sobering—especially when viewed in the context of her crazy life. (For a contrasting example, last year’s death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin—in September, coincidentally--was also sad, but uplifting in its way. Discerning onlookers observed that he had lived a fulfilling--if short--life, doing what he loved and, most importantly, surrounded by love of all three varieties.)

As St. Paul stated in a subsequent verse of the First Corinthians chapter quoted above, faith, hope and love are all that is the essence of a person, but love is the greatest of the three. (And what is a person who is missing one, two or all three of these, especially the greatest of them?)

In the rather disturbing comments section accompanying a Hot Air post on Ms. Smith’s death, one guest said something at the beginning of it which jarred me to the core: “Makes me wish I’d prayed for her.” (As I told Allahpundit in an email last week, the agape love part of Jesus Christ’s first sojourn here on Earth is something about which we Christians often forget.)

Anna Nicole Smith probably died in despair—"wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" in the spiritual sense--and, likely, some out there are feeling a bit of Schadenfreude.

Not me. I wish I had prayed for her, too.

(Thanks to Dad and to Jill Scott)

Comments

[Tully]

Not me. I wish I had prayed for her, too.

It's never too late for that.

[negronova]

Baldi, this is probably THE best and one of probably 3 ways her death should be addressed.

This is showing Christian light.

[genevieve]

Exactly my sentiments! The despair she was in while being chased around by the paparazi must have been awful.

May God have mercy on her soul.

[Ruth H]

I am an old lady, I liked her. I was rooting for her to overcome after the death of her son. I am deeply saddened by her death. She overcame much in life, with family who have dissed her publicly for years, hanger ons who have used her, she almost didn't have a chance. I pray for her soul, also. I saw her as a vibrant being, younger than my own children and needing the friends she didn't have.

[Crap Mariner]

QUESTION: Would you want a mother like that?

[baldilocks]

Would you want a mother like that?

Of course not. But I don't see the point of the question since no one can control the type of he/she has.

[ErikZ]

I don't understand the malice people had for that woman. From what I saw of her, she didn't have a mean bone in her body.

Despite all of her internal and life problems, she was a good person.

[CDN1332]

Please let Anna Nicole Smith be burried with her Son. This has gone on too long and what is this anyway a Money grabbing thing for all involved especially her Mother, get the heck out of this Vergi and leave it alone, she does not want you so disappear quick, or do you want the money also it seems so. I am a CDN and I see this as a Hollywood movie that never ends get with it USA, Howard should raise the little beautiful baby with the help of the biological father this would be right to do, but please not the grandmother for sure.

[renewedfaith]

Firstly thank God she is buried>beside her beloved son. Who are we to judge her life:"people in glass houses should not throw bricks" or "let those without sin cast the first stone"> Whether we like it or not she "married" Howard Stern>they had a relationship-he lived for her and her son-maybe he started out as "hired"employee as did Larry>but Howard became more to her as did Larry> What matters here is what SHE would have wanted. She obviously didn't want Larry anymore. Yet no one is bad mouthing him only people assuming and attacking Howard. Anna would not have stood for that. Did anyone ever see any of Larry's portfolio>who was he before he "latched" on to her. "Struggling" and unimportant. A real no body-he wasn't rich or famous. He admitted to keeping his apartment-yeah cause no one knows how long a "free ride" will be. And yeah I bet you he did want her to get pregnant-reminder>Brittany and K-fed> Hello!!! need I say more. We live in a material world and love and honesty can be bought for money. It is sickening what people do for money and for fame-sickening!!!
Howard was her confidant/lover/friend etc-is that so hard to believe? Really cause Larry started off as a hire too>what makes him so different>he has better lawyer's representing him. If the shoe was on the other foot and Howard was filing for paternity etc-would our sympathy shift to him-yes it would. We need to pray for god to father DanniLynn. We need to trust in Anna's judgements, Howard and her were inseparable for a reason>she was not stupid>she was a very determined woman, protective mother, endearing soul. Pray for understanding and resolve, pray for Dannilynn's best interests. And remember that we were never subject to her private life-and that Howard and Larry were hired by her and for whatever her reasons they became more.One thing is for certain though>Howard was there from the very start and Larry was not...so she trusted Howard more and that was her decision not ours>her public. I am sick and tired of people from her past "tarnishing" her image and "show boating" them selves and "profiting" from her death>real loved ones greif-their loss-and use discussions/talks to help them threw it they don't make specticals of themselves on television-this baby is not a golden ticket-Anna would want her surrounded with positive influences and would protect her and have Howard protect her as he did Daniel. Although we may be care takers of others we can not control people-those that we love-we cannot force to do anything they don't want to-some of us just follow their decisions whether go or bad-and are there to pick up the pieces-and that is how I see Howard Stern-his unconditional love for her and her son and then if god willing -their daughter dannilynn. Remember this-Howard has been the father figure whether biological or not-late night feeding, the actual delivery of the baby, he has been with Anna threw everything-mostly the worst of the worst, but he has behaved decent and proper and loving to Anna-she wouldn't have tolerated anything else. I guess time will tell soon enough-I am sure that we will see a totally differnt side to Larry if he is the biological father-remember though-Anna ended the relationship with him for a reason and we may never know the real reason-only his version....But we have seen what Anna thought of her mother and we have seen that Howard has been at her beck and call throughout their entire relationship-is it so hard to believe that possibly it could really be his daughter? He loved her-he stayed with her throughout everything, he believed in her-he was there for her whether he agreed or not- is that not love? He was not obscessed he was not after the "cash cow" he hasn't benefited in that way-look at his assets. He has fought quite the battles-he has suffered enough-Pray for him, his suffering, pray for Dannilynn, pray for resolution, and pray for understanding, pray for the truth, in the best interests of DanniLynn. Howard will protect Dannilynn and Anna until his last breath-because he loved her......people need to accept that.

[renewedfaith]

Once again I bend your ear-or your thoughts.
I do not want people to think that I am all "go Howard" and "nay Larry". I think of this as I would if I were Anna. I think of this if I were in this position. We have to remember-that society is gravitating towards-"trashy/gossip" media driven stories-we all want to escape our own situations-and yes alot of us think we want to be rich and famous>but look at what happens to your family and friends>to your life-it becomes one media circus. Every little thing/detail in your life can be bought and sold to the media. Real families-have problems like these in Anna Nicole Smith's life. But it doesn't get played out in television and used to gain ratings or financial gain.
If this was a member of your family How would you want this to work out? What would be in the best interest of the daughter who was left behind? What if there was no possibility of financial gain? Would it be such a story line? That little girl is without her mommy, that is tragic, but she has been left with someone whom will never hurt her, whom has done everything to protect her mother and her brother, from day one .
Everyone wants to trash Howard Stern and feel sorry for Larry. Howard has not ever trashed Larry nor did Anna-they chose to ignore it>as they have done with alot of the "B>S" that goes on in Hollywood and the media to sell stories and make headlines. Anyone who has a decent bone in there body knows that majority of things are false in the media and are there as publicity stunts. What happens to Larry if he isn't the father and Howard is? Think about that> what happens there? No matter what we do in this world there is always going to be those that are haters,those that are takers. And we cannot live our lives like that. So I ask you again> What would you do in this situation? If this was your family? How would you want this to be dealt with?
The other thing that upsets me is that people are making comments on Larry's permission....who is he to give permission to anyone what is to happen at Anna's funeral-he is not family member, he is no longer a boyfriend,he is "former" who she "dumped" for her reasons, she remained with Howard-not like she dumped Howard-yet the public is assuming Howard is the bad guy-she left Howard in charge-think of that-would I want my significant other-having to gain permission from a former-dumped boyfriend as to how to proceed with my will and my children> I should think not-it would be only logical that I would entrust my estate and well being whether mentioned in the will or not-to take care of my "affairs/estate/children etc" that is why you name someone as executor-you know and trust that that person will carry out your wishes and that they know you enough to speak for you when your gone. Anna entrusted this to Howard. If she didn't trust him she had enough finances to entrust another if not many lawyers to speak for her for many years after the fact.
Pray for this family, pray for the guilty to be judged appropriately by god, pray forthe salvation of the innocent-which ever way that is.... Pray for strength and honest, courage and unconditional love and understanding for all parties involved. And I say pray as if they were your own family members involved-as in the bible we are all brothers and sisters, we as the public need to assist the family and or guardians of DanniLynn to do what is best for DanniLynn. We need to pressure the media etc to leave her alone....if there is no public interest in DanniLynn than there is no way anyone can gain finanical profit from the media anymore.