Paris Hilton and Other Strnage Obsessions:

I have the unexpected opportunity to make one last entry before the movers pack us up. Everything was pushed back a day, which suited us fine. And it gives me the chance to comment on Paris Hilton, and other strange obsessions many Americans entertain. Paris Hilton is, of course, a very rich potential heiress to the Hilton fortune. Supposedly, she also has some acting talent, maybe a career in modeling. Who knows? She's young and rich and beautiful--and she was released from a Los Angeles jail very early this morning after serving a little time for driving with a suspended license after a DUI conviction. Of course, there's not much news in that--unless you're Paris Hilton, and young, and rich, and beautiful, and famous! I understand that we can be fascinated by people who actually achieve something--even if it isn't something of any particular moral virtue. But what we've increasingly seen over the years is an obsession with people just because they're famous. They haven't necessarily done anything. They've just been. Even when these people do really bad stuff, we want to watch. Are the lives of many people really that boring? Do we really long so fervently to be in the shoes of the rich and famous--even when they're getting released from jail, or when they're on trial for murder? I guess it's kind of like the obsession some people have about "keeping up with the Joneses. I've never quite understood that one, either. Have we become so uninterested in our own individuality that we have to find excitement vicariously through the trials, fame, or successes of others--even others we don't necessarily know or who don't have anything necessarily admirable to recommend them? Surely, there aren't that many people who really want to pattern their lives after that of Paris Hilton! If we're going to obsess over something, why can't it be something noble--like excellence, the will of God, liberty under God, or even the Bible or the Christ! Wouldn't it be great if we became as interested in the progress of Christian world missions as we currently seem to be in the lives and legends of celebrities of questionable character?