Business and entertainment - success and ruin.Another black sore on our failing social structure?
The rewards of attaining fame and fortune
can be very costly in terms of a life of happiness.
It is so unfortunate when entertainers or business tycoons strive relentlessly to achieve top rating only to find themselves in the eye of a storm of stress and torment. The final results of achieving idol status can be so devastating, in business if you err badly, but especially in the entertainment industry.
Talented individuals want to achieve success in life and to be happy, and their parents may wish this for them. But they must first pay attention to the bad news stories and picture the overall saga from start to finish. There are so many tales about attaining glory and the heartaches that go with it. Under gentle circumstances and with most careers, the arts and sports, winning can be so wonderful.
So would you encourage your talented son or daughter toward stardom? What a dilemma with all that recognition and success that could lie ahead. But again it comes down to the perception of success. A peaceful and happy family life enjoying simple and natural values seems to offer the best journey and destination. With stardom this cannot be easy at all.
The corporate entertainment machines, with profits as the main objective, have made it very difficult for stars to have both success and true happiness in their lives. So often they will be over programmed and driven into the wall, exhausted and empty. And of course there is the star's personal desire to acquire yet more, which is so prevalent in so many areas of our society.
You have read enough stories of the resulting pain and humiliation of some of the most post popular and successful stars. The list is long: Famous Celebrity Addicts. This is why I shudder when I read of children or youth talent contests.
Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems.
Bill Allin's overview of the consequences of achieving stardom warns; "Many people would happily change lives with their idols, but they know almost nothing about the troubles these famous people endure. They would hate it.
'Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.' - François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, French moralist (1613-1680)
Many (especially, but not exclusively, young people) people wish they could be rock stars. So many rock stars are either drug users or addicts or heavy users of alcohol, or both, that it's a wonder anyone would want to emulate them. True, they get adulation from the crowds, but the pressure on them to make continually more money to support growing numbers of helper employees often nets them less than their less heralded counterparts.
Music stardom brings with it fame, a double edged sword. Being recognized every time you step out your door is great for the ego for a while, but it becomes stifling when you can't appear in public anywhere without being mobbed. Stardom usually reduces a person's ability to move around in public places, including traveling, which many "unknown" people enjoy.
Movie stars have gained adoring followers since the days of silent movies. They suffer the same downside of fame as the music stars. And the same pressure to make more money and inability to move about in public without attracting greedy and grabby fans. The "stars" who inhabit the pages of supermarket tabloids have no private lives at all. The paparazzi follow them everywhere and photograph them in the most embarrassing and compromising situations possible. . . . .
As the old saying goes: The pasture always looks greener on the other side of the fence, but it looks just as brown as your own when you get up close. A newer saying goes: Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
Read the entire article here. Bill Allin blogs and writes a commentary on various subjects, mostly social problems.
It is normal to want better, but we have to balance our goals with the cost. How much will it cost in terms of real life?
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