Swine Flu and the Curse of the Susan Boyle

There is something I do not get. Everyday a select few of the people living in this country and on this planet do something that many do not. They put on a uniform. This might sound like something simple, but a uniform is more than just clothing. It is a symbol of the pride these individuals take in their jobs. I don't just mean military either. This pertains to police, sheriffs, military, doctors, nurses, Fire, EMT, etc. Anyone who has taken an oath to protect and serve their fellow man.

And yet, some woman in England comes along and sings a song from the Wizard of Oz and we can't stop tossing each other off about it? I mean she didn't save a life, cure cancer, stop war, or end world hunger. But yet she is already being promised more money than most of us see in a lifetime, guest spots on Oprah, Larry King. All of this wealth and fame gets dumped on her..... and for what?

To me it boils down to a really bad case of celebrity worship. I understand to a certain extent that it might be a case of people seeing themselves in this person or that if she can do it so can I. But I also see it as a part of the same problem that other aspects like Celebrity "news" or gossip inhabits. OMG, Britney Spears was spotted at a Hollywood Starbucks! VIDEO AT 11! Teri Hatcher shops for baby clothes! TWITTER YOUR FRIENDS! And whats this? Jerry Seinfeld walks his dogs? Gather the round table of experts!

Why are we as a society so wrapped up in other people doing the EXACT SAME THINGS that you and I do? Is it because they are rich? Is it because they drive Aston Martins instead of Pintos? Is the coffee that Spears gets from that Starbucks any different than the person who ordered theirs right after her?

Now a friend, with whom I've had this conversation with, has told me this is because the firemen and police,military, etc are doing what is expected of them. That this is their job. That it's "all part of the plan. To quote the Dark Knight: "If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"

Here is what bugs me about that. What these people do, while it is their jobs, its not just a regular job. You don't lose your life changing the toner on a copier. You don't become paralyzed by filing the wrong file. What these people do is far more dangerous. If it weren't for these people "just doing their job," the world would be a much scarier and darker place than it even can be now.

Now I know we have holidays and stuff to remember these people by, but unless to regularly see the memorials, or do more on Memorial Day than mow your lawn... once the time passes most of us barely give it a second thought. But yet we have the very idea that Susan Boyle singing is important, and we have it crammed down our throat, it fills the 24 hour news cycle, she appears on Oprah, and yada yada yada.

Then again maybe that's the point. Maybe these people are meant to do these things so that we wont have to think about the bad things. I think that sucks though. I think it will make us complacent and lethargic as a society.

Maybe i'm just rambling.......