Neglect your idols

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."

- O. Wilde

In recent years I have come to think about the issue of idols and people's need for them. Is it the fact that we are bored of our own lives and need to put our needs and longings into another person? If not, what is it then?

There are people who will lay their whole lives in the hands of someone who is completely unknown to them. They will defend their idol(s) whatever he or she does and will pin their own personalities onto them.
I have come to understand a few of the reasons behind this behaviour out of some observations but mostly by analysing myself. I devoted few years of my teenage life to this; never to the extreme but enough to realise that it was wasted time, effort and energy. It was a way to reach out to other lives and people and to escape from myself and my inner values that were changed and formed into something else. I felt like a victim of a mass psychosis where I was just following the footsteps of others in search of something that was not there at all. 

Following an idol is like when people in secondary school start smoking just to be with the crowd that does that. It is about group pressure and a vain attempt to try and be "cool".  Maybe the generations of fan admiration will come to an end someday when people start to realise that we have to invest in ourselves and not someone else who deep down does not deserve it. We deserve to grow as people and achieve something and to do that you cannot waste time on blindly following others.

Anything done to extreme is not healthy. Having idols and people you respect as role models is okay as long as you don't let it consume you. You are not them; they are not you. Perspective matters. It is a cycle, a circle, not always vicious but one that should not be taken lightly.
There is more to life than being famous, making lots of money and staying young and fit for as long as possible (are we talking cosmetic surgery here?). Selfishness, over-the-top self-esteem and admirable self-concept are not the answers. Yet, this seems to be what the young are soaking up on radio, TV, films, peers and social media. Fortunately, experience, age and self-analysis comes into play at some point... and that's how people grow up.

People want to belong, youth wants to belong in order to know that they "fit in" and are "normal" (whatever that may mean). They seek out idols, celebrities that fit where they are at the time: mentally and physically. It is why gangs form, members come together based on (assumed) values and beliefs but more importantly, they belong with a chosen few. 

Everything has always been for sale; it may have just been in a different form than what we see today. People have always worked hard denying others and themselves their deepest sensitivity, passion, love, fear, hope, pain, and more. At the root, we are each alone... Yet we still crave to belong and interact, even briefly, with others. But we do have a choice to sell, buy, lead or be led; to be true to ourselves in acknowledging what is right or wrong... for us.

To realise that what you have been a part of is not who you are is not time wasted but rather time well-spent. Life is happening right now. Blunder away. We all do. There is no user's manual but the goal is the same for all. And it is not fame, fortune or money.

Many people do suck. But, I know, I just know, that there are some good ones still out there. Seek them out.