by Frank Shetland

Created on: February 09, 2007   Last Updated: February 07, 2010

Do you remember where you were when you heard that Anna Nicole Smith had died?

I do. I came home from work and my husband said, "did you hear who died?" He told me, and my life hasn't been the same since. No, I cannot go anywhere without hearing people talk about it. This morning, my local news, the local news of a nearby city, and both stations' morning shows spent sheer minutes talking about the shock and misfortune of it all, followed by a few seconds on Iraq. I went to the bank, and my teller made conversation by asking if I'd heard. When I got into work, we stood around the coffee pot talking about how surprising the news was.

Until I said, "sorry, but what part of this surprises you? The part that an irresponsible woman who was on diet pills and very likely (yet uncomfirmed) other drugs has died? Or the part that that is more important than our soldiers dying in Iraq?" This of course was followed by silence, until we all had urgent end-of-the-week work we had to get to.

Since I'm somewhat distracted here at work by my head cold (not by any loss of sleep over A.N.'s death, I assure you) I came back to my desk and thought about this for just a moment. I really cannot find any reason that anybody can argue that Anna Nicole Smith's death is more important, or even more newsworthy, or more sad, than the deaths of soldiers, the low wages in China, the genocide in Darfur, or global warming. But for some reason, newscasters were drawn to this drama, and for some reason we, whether by grieving the death of a playboy playmate or by balking at the absurdity, pay attention.

Is it possible that we watch this story because of the others? I feel very strongly for the victims of war and genocide; I try to buy products of companies that pay their workers fair wages, but I cannot always afford to; I cried the day the panel of scientists indicated that we're pushing our pollution to the point that it may be too late. But I as an individual cannot say that I've made any positive difference with any of those issues. And I feel terrible about that.

However, when I watched the news packages about Anna Nicole, despite the fact that I could not believe how much airtime she was getting, I felt that the world was a safer place. Anna Nicole was vastly irresponsible with her health, and she probably died as a result of chemicals that were in her body. (No, we do not know this yet. But this is the speculation of many interviewees this morning, and her own mother seems to think that overdose was the cause of death.)

I am responsible with my body. I exercise. I eat moderately well. I drink in moderation, I don't smoke, and I do not do any drugs. Hell, I don't like to take pain relievers. Therefore, it is unlikely that I will end up overdosed and alone like Anna Nicole.

However, in our everyday news, we hear about innocent victims who die, whose family members die, who become orphans, who barely make enough money to support themselves. In our everyday news, we hear that the planet may not be a suitable place for our children to live. It's not easy to make a change to ameliorate any of these situations. But we feel better when we know we are at least doing better than Anna Nicole.

I don't know if it's cruel or not. Surely, those newsreporters who are comparing her to Marilyn Monroe are the cruelest, by dangling the information over our cages. We're just hungry for encouragement.

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