Mourning

THE MORE WE LEARN about the other seven crashees, the more obvious it becomes that they were every bit as beautiful and wonderful as Kobe and Gianna, and that's goin' some. Makes it even worse, if that's possible. We have, however, learned about them a bit too slowly, because we put celebrity first, blowing fame out of all proportion, so typical of us. Our American culture is addicted to celebrity. We build statues and shrines to those deceased who entertained us sufficiently well, which, arguably, is a bit sick. Toning all this down even a tiny tad might help ameliorate our obsession a mite, in terms of evolving and upgrading American cultural values. Amid all the Kobe family stuff, his long ago comment that he thought she had given her consent, buried but not deeply enough to completely hide, is the trademark of every rapist. They all thought they had permission, as if the word "no" is suddenly indecipherable. Oh heavens, if only we could totally forget... But..wait! This is America! We can! Welcome to the biggest fun house on earth...Then too, there's the helicopter angle. Everyone who drives a car everyday half way expects to have car trouble every blue moon. Seldom does a sudden, self inflicted car stoppage kill you. You just pull over, call or walk for help, or show your legs, as the case may be. But when a helicopter quits, it crashes, and you with it. Do we want an elite jet setting copter class flying the friendly skies? Should we all take to the air? We have enormous transportation questions to answer, in finally arriving at a workable system for this vital necessity. We can all agree that one million car deaths per year don't cut it, except my mother, rest her sweet soul, who once told me that "we already have too many people". For now, maybe the chopper set should be limited to police and the military, but, what do I know? There is something about having our celebrity - gods hovering us that somehow seems comfortable, and familiar...