For Shame

The top story in the news today is the funeral of a guy famous for bad plastic surgery, wearing one glove and dangling his baby over a balcony.

Yesterday, SEVEN United States soldiers were killed in Afghanistan.

People in this country have committed suicide because a singer died, but the loss of seven brave Americans doesn’t even make a ripple in our national consciousness.

Shame on each and every one of you who so much as *clicked* on a news story about that ridiculous man. It’s time to wake up, Americans. I am appalled and disgusted by the media frenzy and the celebrity-worshippers who are turning the death of one sad little man into some kind of a bid for sainthood. He could sing. SO freaking what??? What is there to idolize in that?

So here’s the deal. And yes, I’m pissed, in case you didn’t notice. You sad sorry SOBs who are bawling over the loss of this one spoiled, misguided singer: I’m going to help you find a new hero. They’re around, but you can’t look at TV to find them. And you won’t find the real heroes in the music store, either. Here are a few places you can start to search for someone who is worthy of your admiration:

• Look in your own family. Look at the single mom who did without for all the years of your growing, so that you could have a decent coat.
• Look at the father who worked two jobs and missed your ball games (which is where he would rather have been) because you needed braces and that emergency appendectomy.
• Look at the people who volunteer their time, knowledge, effort and funds to help better your community.
• Look at the men and women in the American Armed Forces. No one made them be there. They volunteered to put their lives on the line to preserve YOUR way of life, YOUR security and YOUR freedom.
• Look at the teachers who gave you the education which opened up the doors of the world for you, the police officers who stand between you and the bad guys, the guy that fixes your overflowing toilet and the girl that stocks the grocery shelves so that you won’t have to reach WAY back for your Twinkies.
• If you don't have any of those in your life, then how about you become a fan of the man who died on a cross, so that you could have a shot at heaven? Come to think of it, even if you have all of those in your life, you can still be His fan.

You can stop worshipping the basketball players and the rock stars and the other icons of American overindulgence. Some of those folks might deserve to be heroes, but not because they can make the scoreboard light up or because they have some hot guitar licks. If you can’t find something more redemptive in them than that, it’s a sad day for them, and sadder for you if you idolize them.

God help us, America. Our infrastructure is crumbling, children in this country will go to bed hungry tonight, there are soldiers dying in foreign lands, we have dangerous diseases to contend with and global warming and I don’t know what-all, but a messed-up, freak-of-nature pop star died, and THAT is the big news.