I'm talking about something I know nothing about...

Those of you who know me know it's not like me to know nothing about a subject. I'm not a know-it-all, but I am well-rounded and try to keep up with a minimal amount of current events. I do this, not to be able to debate or even chat about the things happening in the world, but to remind myself that there is a real world outside my bubble.

The real world...ahhhh, it is one I no longer understand. I am of an age... and I'm sure it happens in every generation, that I no longer understand certain things. I don't get them. More accurately, I suppose, I don't understand what motivates certain people to act the way they do. I don't suppose that my lack of understanding is actually an age thing, but perhaps more of a cultural thing.  I was raised in the southern US of A. In a small town, where some houses had gardens and folks five miles up the road even had cows. Lots of kids had dogs and some of them ran loose. House cats spent most of their time outside of the house and people still ironed their clothes. Things change. I know. I get that.

I don't mind change at all. I have always been one to embrace new ideas. I certainly have been on the receiving end of many (probably most) of the wonderful new things that have happened since our house cats roamed free and our dads' and brothers' necks chafed from those freshly starched and ironed shirt collars.

Yes, I would have to say that I embrace change. This started at an early age. I can tie my own shoes and put a bobby pin in my own hair. Soon I will no longer want to twist a plastic knob on the back of my Thumbalina doll to see her head wobble and hear her coo . Soon I don't want a baby doll. Five years old  and I am embracing change! I had the first Barbie doll that came out and... now that I stop and think about it, she may have been the catalyst for all the chaos that followed. Maybe it is Barbie's fault, after all.  As usual, I digress.

So let us fast forward fifty-five freaking years...yes, fifty-five years since Barbie first donned her stripped bathing suit and sported her pony tail. Fast forward to my post of today. Fast forward to the things I know nothing about... and probably won't understand when it's explained to me. If it even can be.

Enter one Lamar Odom. I had heard of him, only because he (was/is/might be) married to one of the Kardashians. I only know them because they are a reality television family that is famous for nothing. He is now in the news because of this:

Odom, 35, has been hospitalized since Tuesday after he was found unconscious at a brothel named Love Ranch in Crystal, Nev., located about 80 miles outside of Las Vegas. He was placed on life support and was reportedly close to death.

In the 911 call released Wednesday, Love Ranch employees said Odom was unresponsive with a light red fluid and white matter oozing out of his nose after using cocaine and taking sexual performance supplements...

I am stumped as to how I feel about this man. Back in the good old days I seem to remember there were celebrities that acted wild and got caught at it, but it took several days for it to become known and if the person had done something of a sexual nature, it was whispered about and certainly not reported like it is today. It may have been on the news or in a weekly edition of Life magazine. No, these days it is on almost every electronic news and sports page and website and social media page that exists. It is being reported almost in real time.  Most of the country is riveted to this story.

Most of us have sown some wild oats in our lifetimes, I've heard there are a few that have never rebelled at all and if that is actually true, then that's OK, too. With all of that being said, right as I was making up my mind as to how I felt about this,  I heard someone say how sad this situation was. How sad it is that Odom had made such bad choices in life. How sad it is that he is very, very sick in the hospital due to the bad choices. (four days of drugs and sex in a brothel that result in you being at the point of death are extremely bad choices in my opinion).

This is a man who, from all accounts, is a prominent sports figure, has played professional basketball and is supposedly worth between 50 to 100 million dollars. This is a man who supposedly came from humble beginnings and was talented enough apparently to rise about it all and play professional basketball and become unbelievably wealthy from this.

Supposedly Mr. Odom and his Kardashian wife are still married but live apart or something. Who knows. This man made his fortune playing basketball. His wife and her entire family have made millions going to parties and being, in my opinion (from my limited exposure to them) quite vile and often appear half-naked on this thing we refer to as reality television. Back to Odom...

This man, who is in the hospital, near death, due to prolonged drug usage and a four day sex binge at a brothel, this man is who is in the news this week.

Why do I not really feel sorry for him? Society loves him. Loves him and his millions. Loves him and readily accepts his bad decisions. 

I never want anyone to be in pain. I never want anyone to overdose. I never want a child to lose his parents. I certainly don't want anyone to die before their time. No one wants that. I have experienced it first hand and it's not much fun. But at what time do we, as a society and a nation, stop not only accepting, but idolizing these people and their bad decisions.

Being a girl raised in the south, I was preached to as I grew up. Preached to by parents and grandparents and by, well, by preachers. We went to church, we read the bible, we even remembered some of it.  I'm not one to spout scripture, but one passage that has always stuck with me is 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse eleven...

 

 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things"

What in the world is more childish than to have everything you could want or need...a Kardashian wife, cute children (from what I'm told), fame, money, the celebrity life... and apparently just throw it away...ending up in the hospital after "partying" with sex workers/prostitutes (legal, but still sex for pay) all the while doing massive amounts of illegal drugs...stopping after four days only because you collapse??? It's time to put away childish things.

Now I am not asking for an interpretation of the scriptures, and if you are thinking that's what I need, just back away right now so your feeling won't be hurt and your nose will remain unbroken. I'm not asking for an explanation here, I'm just saying I do not understand this. Actually I do understand it, but I think it's stupid. Basically what pisses me off is that, once again,  it is hero worship for someone that doesn't deserve it. Not at all.

I could say more, but I think I will end my rant for now. 

Enjoy what is left of your day and do some art.  Seriously, do some art.