by Valerie Kelly

Created on: May 08, 2008   Last Updated: October 09, 2008

Shakespeare said it first, all those centuries ago. "The whole world's a stage and we are merely players."

From the moment of birth we are thrust on to this stage and all without exception play their individual parts. There is the doting mother, pushing her child into the limelight, desperate to bathe in a little reflected glory - to make up for the recognition she never had. Or the uninteresting guy that nobody ever gave a second glance - making his mark with a respected doggy accessory, perhaps a Rottweiller or a Pit Bull - guaranteed to make them sit up and take notice.

Teenagers are a good example of these human traits. They in particular would rather be dead than unnoticed - so hence we have the Goths and the Punks and all the other weird and wonderful manifestations of the ego. As the pace of life gets ever faster, ever crazier, if you can't keep up then you fall by the wayside.

Woe betide the dissenter or the one that has the effrontery to question the madness of this world. You will more than likely be howled to scorn and told to shut up in no uncertain terms.

This phenomenon of celebrity worship in the West has only evolved over the last century. Before that the working classes had no disposable income and spent their grindingly poor days just trying to stay alive. Now we have the means, with affordable clothes, make up and lots of can't do without material possessions to make our neighbour green with envy.

We are all so desperate to belong and be rated that some will do anything to fulfill this hungry need. The more bizarre the behavior the more the brownie points.

Celebrities are the ones that have clambered to the top of this dubious pile of falsehood and pretense so their reward is to be showered with accolades and obscene amounts of money.

Then comes the rub - once you've reached the top of this wobbly tree how do you stay there? The salivating masses that so adore you today can turn at the drop of a hat and tear you to pieces tomorrow.

Is it little wonder that these poor people who are idol worshipped, start to lose the plot? The pressures that they are under are enormous. Constantly in the glare of the spotlight their human frailty is only too obvious.

I think it is inevitable that their behavior will become increasingly bizarre as is apparent in the latest sacrifice to stardom - the hugely talented and pitifully broken Amy Winehouse. To watch her path of self destruction played out for the ghoulish satisfaction of the media is almost too unbearable.

But hey what do we care - idols always have feet of clay and we can erect another one tomorrow. Anything's better than being a nobody - isn't it? Or paying homage to the real God that made us.

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