A lot of trends start in Hollywood, and that ain’t necessarily a good thing. I watched a TV report this morning, complete with a pictorial array of ‘stars,’ on how famous unmarried parents have helped to coin a new word into the popular lexicon: baby daddy. Apparently that’s how you introduce your baby’s father when you’re unwed. “Please meet Henry, my baby daddy.” Creepy on a number of levels.

But I’m also picking up on another slowly developing rise of events that may or may not be something to worry about. When I read this morning about the depression struggles of Fall Out boy frontman Pete Wentz, and his newly revealed suicide attempt, it brought to mind the more highly publicized troubles this past fall of popular actor Owen Wilson, and a tiny alarm went off in the pit of my stomach…or the back of my mind… same thing. I wondered… is this too a trend that could reach into popular culture?

You think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill? Who could have foreseen 25 years ago the number of teenaged girls who would willfully starve themselves to the point of death to emulate celebrities? Stranger things have happened, unfortunately. And the briefest of searches on celebrity suicide attempts quickly turns up a surprisingly long and diverse list, including Halle Berry, Donna Summer, Greg Louganis, Drew Carey, Mike Wallace, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Young, Adam Ant, Tai Babilonia, Drew Barrymore, Danny Bonaduce, and Johnny Cash, among many, many others. Some were more serious than others, but all were confessed by the celebrities themselves as sincere desires to end life at the time.

It brought to my mind a remark made to me yesterday in an interview with talented, upbeat indie performer Alyce Metallo. She mentioned to me that there needs to be more songs that tell the truth about the world’s need for a savior, songs with a clear-cut gospel message. I found it a provocative thought, and wasn’t completely clear just how much I agreed with her at that moment. This morning’s news, and the recent rumblings of my stomach/mind, make me wonder anew.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am and is filed under Staff Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.