I Feel Petty (or is it the rest of the world?)

I am pretty fed up with the so-called celebrity culture in our society. Things are seriously upside down when Britney Spears in rehab, American Idol contestants and Anna Nicole Smith's burial hearings make the evening news. Why do we care? What difference does any of that make to me? It is no wonder that we are on our way to hell in handbasket. I have to work hard to find out the latest news on the war in Iraq, but the latest on Paris Hilton and Linsday Lohan is everywhere.
Could it be that Miss USA and her sex and drinking problems are easier to think about and understand than what happens on Capitol Hill? If I get past the feud between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donell will I have to use my brain and make my own decisions?
Here is the truly difficult and scary part: When we get consumed with Entertainment Tonight and InTouch Magazine, we lose touch with real life. I do not believe that normal people get married and divorced in a few hours, or enter rehab routinely. It is my conviction that regular people, the ones I know anyway, are pretty boring. They do not have what it takes to get on Extra, or in the pages of People. In fact, they would be mortified if they ever found themselves there.
When I spend too much time and energy focused on celebrity gossip I begin to think that maybe I should leave my wife; perhaps drug use is not that bad; I think I will party all night, no matter what anyone else says or thinks. After all, if it is good enough for Brad and Angelina, why not me?
So here is a commitment and a challenge:

• I recognize that celebrity gossip has nothing to do with my life. Therefore, I am going to pay it no attention. I will turn off the television, radio, etc. if I cannot avoid the tabloid world.
• I am going to be purposeful in using my brain. It takes work to think, but I think that God gave me a brain for thinking. Celebrity scandal and gossip do not allow for that.
• I will try to affect change in those around me. I am going to help others see how ridiculous and potentially hurtful all this celebrityism is. My part will only be small, but it will be something.