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Those of us who grew up watching "The Cosby Show" as teens in the 1980s were extremely saddened to learn of Malcolm-Jamal Warner's tragic drowning in Costa Rica while on vacation with his family. Warner held iconic television status among Gen X, as he was most beloved for his role as Theo Huxtable on the pioneering sitcom created by Bill Cosby. "The Cosby Show," starring Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, an obstetrician, and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair, a successful attorney, blazed a historic trail in primetime television with the depiction of an educated, upper-middle-class African American family. Theo was the only boy in the Huxtable household, growing up with his four sisters, Denise (Lisa Bonet), Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) and Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), and he got into plenty of crazy and fun shenanigans with his siblings and friends. An all-time fan favorite episode is "A Shirt Story," which showed Theo planning to impress his girlfriend, Christine, by wearing a Gordon Gartrelle designer shirt on a date. Clair allows Theo to purchase the shirt using his father's line of credit. When Cliff sees the steep price tag, he makes a hilarious declaration every parent could relate to: "No 14-year-old boy should have a $95 shirt unless he is onstage with his four brothers!" Another one of my favorite episodes is "Theo's Holiday," in which Cliff and Clair give Theo a humorous and practical outlook on "the real world," with valuable life lessons on money management and the cost of living.

For my generation, the storylines revolving around Theo were awe-inspiring because his character was upstanding and not stereotypical. He represented the joys and challenges of Black boyhood and could thrive in a cultural setting that had not been explored or seen in earlier shows. For example, "Good Times," which preceded "The Cosby Show" by a decade, featured the Evanses, an intact Black family constrained by extreme poverty. The father, James, boldly portrayed by the late John Amos, struggled to make ends meet by working menial jobs to support his children and wife, Florida (Esther Rolle), while they lived in a housing project on Chicago's South Side. "Good Times" had some realistic narratives, but it was later heavily criticized for its depiction of the eldest son, J.J. (Jimmie Walker), whose character evolved with a minstrel-like drollness. J.J. was a talented artist, but when looking back at his frivolous personality in "Good Times'" primary years, viewers were laughing at him rather than with him. With Theo, the humor seemed more authentic, and we felt we were maturing alongside him as he faced serious issues, such as his dyslexia diagnosis in a season 6 episode.

When "The Cosby Show" ended in 1992, I watched Warner in some of his subsequent TV projects. The sitcom "Malcolm & Eddie" starred Warner opposite the comedian Eddie Griffin and was popular in the late '90s. I also watched Warner in the comedy "Reed Between the Lines," which aired from 2011 to 2015. I didn't follow Warner as closely as his career progressed through the 2010s, but the last active role I saw him in was when he was featured as Darnell, the father of a son navigating life after college, in the 2024 "Grown-ish" episode "Hard Times." This will not be cited as one of Warner's most memorable roles. Still, I thought about the character of Darnell when I heard of Warner's untimely passing, since he will not be able to witness his 8-year-old daughter's milestone moments.

Many of my high school and college classmates were thinking about significant life moments when posting their reactions to Warner's death on social media. At just 54, Warner was a year younger than me and many of my friends, and as I reflected on my life's accomplishments, I recalled 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, which explains how we will give an account to God for the work we have done. Verse 14 speaks of being rewarded for work that exemplifies Godly character and worth, built on a solid spiritual foundation. The platform I have is much smaller than Warner's was, but I began to think about how I want to glorify Christ in the cultural and educational spaces where He has strategically placed me. This is what I want the testimony of my life to be.

Warner's death is a stark reminder of just how short life is. We must make the most of the days God has blessed us with because we do not know when our time is up.

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Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at Ohio State University's Lima campus. Email her at smojc.jj@gmail.com. Follow her on X: @JjSmojc. To find out more about Jessica Johnson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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