To honor or not to honor, that is the question.

It certainly has been the question in this space, where we’ve recently discussed commemorative license plates for a football team and renaming a bridge for a retiring congressman.

Now, it’s lowering the American flag to half-staff in memory of Whitney Houston. That was the decision of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who planned that unusual gesture Saturday, when the pop singer’s funeral services took place in her native Newark.

Christie came under fire for the decision from those who felt it was wrong to honor, to put it bluntly, a drug addict.

Christie called Houston “a daughter of New Jersey,” adding in an Associated Press report, “I am disturbed by people who believe that because her ultimate demise — and we don’t know what is the cause of her death yet — but because of her history of substance abuse that somehow she’s forfeited the good things that she did in her life. I just reject that on a human level.”

There are plenty of examples of prominent citizens from all walks of life being similarly honored. Although the prevailing wisdom may be that lowering flag is reserved for government officials, fallen soldiers and other public servants, the nation’s Flag Code clearly gives a governor wide berth on making this kind of choice. (New Jersey  also lowered flags last year after the death of musician Clarence Clemons.)

So the sticking point in Whitney Houston’s case is whether or not her troubled personal life disqualifies her.

We say it’s a close call. For all the enjoyment her gifted singing provided the public, the aforementioned demons, which may have directly caused her premature death, can’t be ignored.

We applaud Christie for his compassion; we didn’t realize he’s such a softy. Sorry, but we disagree with him.

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