Idol Worship

How much time do you think the average person has spent on Michael Jackson's death? Probably much more time than he has in prayer or at church. Why? Why have celebrities become so all -consuming to Joe and Jane Public? America is creating its own gods and pronouncing them good.

We are inundated by television and magazines with information about celebrities, their habits, their love lives and all sorts of details of which we have no business knowing and we eat it up like candy. Magazines like People and US are filled with gossip and tawdry details. Why doesn't anyone realize it is none of our business. Yes, they are celebrities. Yes, some of them have talent but they are not the property of the people of the United States. But, they are treated as such. I would not want to be treated that way. I would not want my heartbreaks, mistakes and failures to be fodder for the great unwashed.

I used to have subscriptions to those magazines. I liked to look at them mostly for the clothes they showed, especially to awards shows. I really got sick of all the gossip and endless speculation and I felt guilty for participating in gossip. I also got sick of them using their celebrity status to push their agenda. So I quit.

There is going to be a memorial in LA for Michael Jackson. He was a poor, lost soul. It would be much better for those attending, and Michael himself, if they spent that time in prayer for the repose of his soul.