Just like Britney Spears, We All Need 12 Steps for Our Addictions

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

I think it is time for all of us to recognize that we all play a role in turning young celebrities into uncontrollable, narcissistic brats. And that we are fostering an image of stardom that is truly sickening.

Media, and fans alike, are responsible for just standing by to report on, and oogle, all the crazy trainwrecks that have become the lives of our young stars. It's addicitive, I know ... perhaps as bad as any other substance.

However, by supporting our own additction to these dramas, we are sending out a terrible message to all young girls.

It worries me that we are broadcasting negative role models and that we are presenting a warped view of what is cool, "in", and "normal." It gives girls the idea that drugging, partying, missing appointments, breaking agreements, screwing up your career success, showing your privates in public, being sloppy and living a completely unsoulful life is cool.

Believe me, I am not one of those crazily judgmental clergy people, but this whole episode in our culture of honoring bad behavior, focusing on the lifestyles of the rich and unconscious, and giving so much NEGATIVE attention to stars like Britney Spears is insane.

There is such an imbalance in these "stars." There is nothing soulful in their behavior. There is nothing about it that contributes to our world. They are doing nothing to help others, or make a difference. Even Britney, with her foray into Kabbalah, has forgotten the key: We live in a broken world, and we are all meant to help fix it - Tikkum Olam -- not make it worse.

Young spoiled celebrities feel above the law. They are placed on pedestals, like deities, and they begin to think they are above God as well. And look how sad the outcome is. We put them on pedestals ... then we knock them down as soon as they show one iota of their fragile human nature.

Will this culture ever stop deifying celebrities?

Really folks, these young stars have not had a chance to become interesting women. Maybe if they learn from all the mistakes they are making they will, some day, but it ain't now!

Britney, God bless her, is so boring. I know I can't see through the eyes of a guy, but, are the Olsen twins really so fascinating? Is Paris Hilton so intriguing? Please!

Lindsay Lohan is the only one in the bunch who is truly talented, a great actress, buy she has so many Daddy issues that she is trying to drown out with booze that she is self-destructing. And we are watching, in the way vultures watch, and then get ready to swoop down for their prey.

Speaking of praying ... lets pray, please, for young girls who are so desperate for attention and stardom. And for our our boring lives and oure attempt to snazz them up by following celebrity dramas. Let's pray for the morbid curiosity in us all that leads is to observe celebrity meltdowns as if they are sporting events. Maybe we should admit we are powerless over our morbid curiosity and the addiction of watching celebrity shenanigans. Maybe we need help?

If we can do anything to support Britney and her celebrity counterparts, it is see them as capable of their own healing and recovery. I think we can all you a little dose of 12 Steps Wisdom. These are the original Twelve Steps as defined by Alcoholics Anonymous.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Okay, II am stepping off my "soap box."

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is a leading interfaith and non-denominational wedding officiant. She creates unique ceremonies for couples of all backgrounds and faiths, and is also widely recognized as a relationship coach, bridal stress expert and columnist. She is author of WEDDING GODDESS: A Divine Guide To Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss (Perigee Books, May 2005) and the new online course, Discover the Goddess. Visit Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway at www.WeddingGoddessWisdom.com.

Posted March 8, 2007 8:18 AM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Email This