It's interesting to see the many articles honoring Don Cornelius for his contribution to the landscape of television. It's undisputed that Cornelius' Soul Train provided entertainment that added an African American flair to the very vanilla television programming that existed, especially in the seventies and eighties. Nevertheless, the story angle that hits me most is the final greeting that the Soul Train host left behind at the end of every show. Cornelius always wished his audience "love, peace, and soul."
There is irony in this saying because suicide doesn't show any love for yourself, for God, or for those left behind. It puts self's interest first; yet, it is the ultimate hatred of self, since it leads to self-destruction.
Then there's peace. Peace is a gift that is embodied through the Holy Spirit through the acceptance of Christ. It cannot be bought with all the money in the world. In addition to the very sad tragedy of Cornelius' death is the fact that it's not a new story. It's a tragic tale of woe which will repeat itself through the end of time, reinforcing that money, power, and fame are not the key to peace or happiness. It is apparent, even if Cornelius thought he had peace with himself in his decision to kill himself, real peace was not with him in his final hours.
Finally, his reference to "soul" is again very eeire. Although, meant as a musical terminology referring to a kind of music that comes from the innermost part of a human-being; our souls are really the eternal part of us, and it is affected by either the enemy's desires or God's desires—no middle ground there. Ultimately, the soul will receive either judgment or mercy through Christ. That's why we should be praying that Jesus Christ consumes our hearts, and as the word of God tells us in Philippians 2:12, we all need to be working out our own "...salvation with fear and trembling."
In the life of Don Cornelius, what's done is done, and the Cornelius family has to live with the tragic decision that the Soul Train pioneer made. There's no sugar-coating the reality of his death or his eternal life. However, it's worth noting that if Cornelius had concentrated on love, peace or soul in the context of Jesus Christ in his own life, perhaps he would have departed from this earth honorably with all three in-tact.
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