Why We Care So Much About Brad And Angelina's Divorce

But maybe if we'd start to look at life with the truth that all humans are indeed human, there would be less hero worship and more appreciation for the preciousness in each of us. Maybe more would be done to help the less fortunate. Maybe more of ourselves we'd make.
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are divorcing. Seems strange how much energy and personal time we invest in complete strangers. And then when something like this happens it startles us and makes us feel sad. Sad for the end of an era when our idealization of what a life could be is writ large in the relationship of someone else. It's also a cold, unwelcome reminder that life and dreams and other people are never quite what they seem to be. Even if they've been the stars of your fantasies for half a lifetime.

But what else is there to do once you've built a glass house for someone else's marriage or life, except knock it down. It's so human of us. To peer over the fence at another's way of life out of voyeuristic curiosity, only to shake our heads and tisk our tongues in disapproval. It's also so human of us to forget or choose to ignore this infallible truth - that all humans are human.

It's a truth that is the impenetrable foundation for a more forgiving and compassionate life and world-view. But it's so much more interesting to hold out hope for the secret gods among us. It tickles our sense of separateness between "us and them." And confirms our belief that other's lives are more fulfilling and interesting. We also proclaim with vicarious arrogance that we would do it differently and here's how.

I've only just started to outgrow the inclination for celebrity worship that consumed my teens and twenties. But even still, it's only graduated to a different, more sophisticated version of the same - this time it's dead writers instead of reality stars and historic leaders instead of pop singers.

Maybe we're genetically predisposed to admiration turned idol-worship. It's been so human for so long, even Moses can attest. I guess what I'm getting at is at the core maybe a deeper (or deeply rooted) fallacy that "what is out there is greener than what's in here." It's got to be! we cry. But maybe if we'd start to look at life with the truth that all humans are indeed human, there would be less hero worship and more appreciation for the preciousness in each of us. Maybe more would be done to help the less fortunate. Maybe more of ourselves we'd make.

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