Something that's never made sense to me is why weconcern ourselves so much with what goes on in the lives of celebrities.

Iunderstand why we enjoy them; they are usually talented and perform for us.Through their exploits, we can live vicariously. We get a few hours ofentertainment and an escape from whatever is on our minds, and they get theirmillions of dollars. It's a living.

And the better they are at what theydo, the more we appreciate them. Eventually, we place them so high on a pedestalthat we forget that when you take away the make up and the spotlight they arereally no different from any regular Joe on the street. Actually, we don'tforget. We just won't let ourselves realize that they are just like us. We createrole models, and they had better be worth it. We can't consider our next-doorneighbor a role model, though he keeps his flower garden pretty darnneat.

Because celebrities are on such a high pedestal, we think theyare above the petty affairs of mortals. Going to the store or the movies justdoesn't exist in their lifestyles. And activities that would seem normal in ourlives are magnified tenfold, like going on a diet. If it works, that diet programbecomes the hot new thing. If it doesn't, that particular celebrity's careertakes a figurative nose-dive.

Or relationships. It's more than youraverage gossip in the hair salon or the hallways of high school. Maybe if you'rereally popular, the news of you and your new beau will be around school in aweek. When you're a celebrity, the whole world knows it within a couple of days,and your parents find out from "Entertainment Tonight" not fromyou.

It should not make us feel better to know if Tom Cruise broke up withNicole Kidman or vice versa, or if Britney Spears is really going out with someguy in a boy band. What does it matter? What should make us feel better is payingmore attention to what's going on down here on Earth, around us, not on PlanetHollywood.