A couple of years ago, I signed up for a service through a local television station that sends an alert to the toolbar on my computer whenever news breaks in the world. I like the service because I can’t work with the radio or television on—it’s too distracting, but with this service I’m never fearful that I’m going to miss something big. But at the same time, I hate the noise it makes because it means that something has happened—and it is rarely good news.
Yesterday, toward the end of my workday, the alert sounded and I clicked on it. It said this: “Breaking News Alert / Report: Britney Spears Files for Divorce.” My first thought was, come on…if I got an alert for every celebrity who got a divorce, my computer would sound like a symphony of alert notices. While that is indeed true, my second thought was about her two children; Sean Preston (1) and Jayden James (2 months old).
I went over to MSNBC.com and of course, it was the lead story. I’m not sure what that says about our country, but it what it is. MSNBC already had a live poll up and 12,475 people had responded. As of the time of this writing, 72% of the respondents clicked on “what took her so long?” and 16% clicked on “feel sorry for their sons,” and 11% clicked on “won’t be long before marriage #3.” Finally, 1.1% clicked on “shocked, I really thought they’d last.” That fact that only 16% felt sorry for her sons was amazing to me.
This post isn’t written to bash Britney Spears, or Kevin Federline, or our culture in general. It’s written more out of sadness for two more kids who will not have their father to love and guide them on a daily basis. And indeed that is cause for alarm.
