From my most recent post at The Blazing Center:
Fame is a fickle thing. It comes to many who do not seek it and is an unwelcome guest. It avoids many who do seek it leaving them in vain pursuit. When it is found by those who seek it is unsatisfactory and often destructive. After being destructive for period it often abandons them, leaving them in a worse state than they were before it arrived.
And the oddest thing about fame is that the people who manage it best are those who act is if they don’t have it.
Fame creates a riddle that is unsolvable. When one doesn’t have any he wants some, but as soon as he has some he needs more. Once more is found he wants none, but neither can he bear the thought of giving up what he has.
It all makes one wonder why anyone would seek fame?
And yet we do. The desire to be famous burns hot. And if we can’t be famous we want to know famous. That’s why People Magazine and E! TV are so popular (it’s certainly not because of the creative and artistic value). We brag about seeing actress X at the airport or athlete Y at the grocery store. It’s as if the knowledge of fame or proximity to it rubs a little magic fairy famous dust off onto us so we can feel famousy for a moment.
But what is about Fame that so captivates and nearly stupefies society?
. . .