Editorial: A star’s final message

Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.

Johnny Cash didn't start out being Johnny Cash. He showed just enough talent when he was in high school to perform regularly on an Arkansas radio station. He served in the Air Force. He sold appliances. He went to radio announcing school. In 1955, at age 23, he began his singing career and became the Johnny Cash we remember. He recorded "Cry Cry Cry" that year and in 1956 recorded "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line." He went on to record 1,500 songs and earn millions of fans of all ages and musical tastes over the next five decades.

He wasn't always a great role model. His was the image of a tough iconoclast, albeit an iconoclast of the people. He went through his drug and alcohol phases without alienating his fans or even the pinnacle of the establishment -- in 1970 he performed at the Nixon White House. Still, toward the end, he had a message for all of us about those kinds of choices. Earlier this year he recorded an emotional music video about what a lifetime of drug abuse can do to your health and to the people around you. "What have I become?" he sang.

Johnny Cash, who died Friday, became a man we treasure for his music, and a man we respect for the final message he left the world.