By BILLY MURPHY
Laugh Lines

We're addicted to celebrities. Whether it is escapism, fanaticism or just plain icon-ism, one thing is for sure: We are becoming more and more connected to the lives of movie stars, musicians and sports idols as we become less and less connected to our own.

Typically, this kind of passiveness in regards to pop culture is nothing to worry about; all of us should like to sing in the shower like Shania Twain, or maybe just like to be in the shower with her. Yet, our reality seems to, everyday, become more intertwined with that of the celebrity. Case in point: Why do we not give notice to social issues, diseases, or afflictions until a celebrity has suffered the pain or starts to fight for the cause?

We need to care and be concerned because it is right, not because some famous person tells us to.

It is wonderful that Katie Couric is making great waves to educate people concerning colon cancer (her husband's killer). I applaud Michael J. Fox for his moving testimony and fight concerning Parkinson's Disease. It's terrific that so many people are becoming aware because of honest and open disclosures by these celebrities. I feel the same respect for Christopher Reeve who in tremendous pain and suffering stands taller now than he ever did as Superman. How can any of us not be changed by such real heroes? But why do we wait on them?

I know there are many who are involved in a myriad of benevolent and care organizations or many who give money towards such charitable causes and for you, I am preaching at the choir. Yet, I am still pointing a finger at most of us and saying, “What are we waiting for?” Why aren't we internally motivated to become compassionate activists? Are we just waiting around for Michael Douglas to lead us through our mid-life crisis first?

Maybe we are a nation living in denial. No one would accept AIDS as a serious problem until Rock Hudson died of it, then Freddie Mercury, and now too many to mention. Anorexia was just a hushed embarrassment until it took the life of Karen Carpenter. Nowhere is our mortality more prominent than watching Muhammad Ali, the strongest man of our last century, reduced to weakness and frailty personified. Here is a hero who stands with honor and dignity even in his limitations as we sit and complain about the price of popcorn at the movies or how bad Felicity looks with all her hair cut off.

As I was talking about this issue, my friend Rich Lasner said, “Next thing you know, cartoon characters will get in on the act.” Then I think, right on; the Tasmanian Devil could be an advocate for attention deficit disorder. Yogi the Bear could represent reformed kleptomaniacs. Porky Pig would be a natural choice as a spokesperson, uh, spokespig for those with speech impediments. And if truth be known, I bet all that nervousness and frustration that Wile E. Coyote suffers is irritable bowel syndrome.

Nevertheless, we as common folk need to drop the idle idol worship, set our own standards, and simply work to benefit those around us in need, whether the giving of time or money. This way, we can look at each other and say as Lester Burnham did in “American Beauty,” “I think you just became my personal hero.”

[Visit Billy Murphy on the Internet at http://billymurphy.homepage.com.]

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