Recently we have been informed of several celebrity deaths, including Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.
Dr. Keith Ablow wrote in Fox News about Society’s obsession with Celebrity Death, as he referred to the death of David Carradine. He stated, “…but we also think that real celebrities are inhuman, celluloid creatures without the right to the privacy or decency befitting other human beings.”
I would agree that celebrities lose their privacy and the news media can be shockingly unkind and vulgur in their reporting of half-truths. On the other side, I think society lifts up celebrities as larger than life figures, and in a way society as a whole almost believes that they own celebrities. Pick up a magazine and you can learn about the recent relationship break-ups between celebrities and find an “exclusive story” about the real truth behind “blah blah blah”.
Dr. Keith Ablow wrote, “That’s the trouble, though. We don’t think of actors as real, anymore. We don’t think of politicians as genuine, anymore. We don’t think of sports stars as dedicated athletes, anymore. We don’t think of the economy as a miraculous engine that runs only on the truth, anymore. Because, in the end, too many of us don’t think enough of our real selves, anymore.”
In a way we tend to create false images of celebrities. We don’t see them as real people; we see them as fairytale story characters and we forget that they are just as human as everyone else.
When a celebrity dies, he or she must face God, just like you or I must face Him, and God holds no partiality. Every person must account for his life, whether he is a beggar in the streets or a rich millionaire with all the fame in the world.
When a celebrity dies it does cause a stir. I believe this is because we see images of the celebrity in the news, on the cover of magazines, we hear about them on the radio and from co-workers, and we read about them in the newspaper. We almost feel like we know them because we hear about their lives and watch them give interviews on t.v. When a celebrity dies, the fairytale image is gone. We are forced to accept the reality that this “fairytale character” is actually a living, breathing, human being, just like you and I. This living, breathing celebrity was no Shrek, or cartoon character that can die and come back to life.
Death is permanent and the choices we make while we have life have a spiritual impact. Jesus said in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
At the end of the day, when the fairytale image has been shattered and the reality that each one of us will die and face God, we are forced to consider eternity and contemplate our own choices that will affect our eternal destiny.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
