by Stephanie Moore

Created on: July 18, 2009   Last Updated: July 19, 2009

There is a fine line between mourning a celebrity's death and completely losing it over them. When no personal contact is made with a celebrity, and no real relationship formed, there is potential for the fan to idolize the celebrity too much, and place them on a pedestal that they never belonged on in the first place. We as responsible fans in today's society owe it to ourselves to keep stardom in perspective. When you love someone's music, love the music, and respect the artist, but do not go so far as to think of them as more than human; they are not more than human. When Michael Jackson recently passed, the people around me CRIED and said things like "I will never get over this, it's just so tragic." Why is it SO tragic? He's dead, but his music is not. He will be remembered both for the good and the bad that he left behind, but he is not being swept off of the planet. If, for some reason, everyone had to rid themselves of his music forever because he died, then I would say there is something to freak out about. But, because that is not the case, it is not so tragic as some people might think. In that instance, I would say only the people who had plans to see him in the near future are the ones who have a serious disappointment on their hands. Celebrities are just people. Lucky or talented (rarely both) people who found their niche in the world and are taking advantage of their opportunity to make our world a better place. Remember that, and you will never find yourself in a horrible mood because of something that a celebrity did.

Celebrities should also never be idolized for who they are, but for what they do.What they do should define their acceptability as a role model. If President Obama jumped off a cliff, and your child's goal in life was to be a president just like Obama, would you want them to jump off a cliff too? No. Okay, maybe that is a little extreme. If Jamie Lynn Spears gets pregnant as a teenager, do you want your teenage girl to think that getting pregnant is not a huge deal? If a celebrity did it, it's really okay, right? I know we sometimes display celebrity scandal in a negative light, but not usually. Michael Phelps was caught doing drugs, and he WALKED AWAY JUST FINE. He lost a few endorsements, yes, but he was not seriously hurt in any way, which makes me think that some younger people may not understand just how huge that entire ordeal was. It was a BIG DEAL. But, since he is a celebrity, some child who saw that it was okay when Michael Phelps did it will pick up a joint, and think that maybe it isn't so bad. However, if President Obama somehow manages to pull this country out of its suffering economy, you want your child to see his work ethic and determination in finding a positive outcome to a negative situation. That is a role model worth following.

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