So, you want to be rich and famous?
a column by Chris Jungle

Deep down in all of our psyches, we would all like to be admired for what we do. If that means thousands and possibly millions of individuals hanging on our every word and action, we would secretly appreciate it and publicly shrug it off by saying those people need to follow their own path. Of course, with most fame comes a decent amount of cash. It may not be enough to buy corporations or Major League baseball teams, but there's a good chance that all famous people have nice houses, cars, and assorted trinkets. There's nothing wrong with that. My friends and I play the 'What are you going to do if you win the lottery' game all of the time, and it is inevitable that we all say nice houses, cars, and assorted trinkets.

Winning the lottery is a little bit different than being famous. One involves just money while the other includes notoriety. Unfortunately, the act of having money can also cause trauma. Many of the rich don't seem any happier than the poor. Some are paranoid about losing all of their money, some have extreme drug problems (legal or illegal), and some go all the way and become Scarface.

Lots of famous people talk about losing their friends because of their fame. Many sob stories are told about how all the people the rich person trusted became jealous of the money and fame (proving once again that the poor and the rich don't get along very well). Along with losing old friends, the rich and famous suddenly see many people who want nothing else but to be a groupie. Now, every person should have one or two well-trained groupies, but any more than that would probably the feed the ego a bit too much.

The worst part of all about having money and being famous is this: even with all of the good things, bad things still happen. Not only did Bill Cosby have money extorted from him, but someone killed his son for no other stupid reason than he had a nice car. There are some extremely nice cars on the market these days, but they still haven't made one that is worth losing a family member for. If someone had asked Michael Jordan if he would have given up all of his fame and fortune so a punk wouldn't have shot his father (who was driving a nice car), the answer might well have been yes.

The rich lose their friends, have drug problems, health problems, mental problems, and have just as much chance of having a close family member die because of a freakish occurrence. Money and fame doesn't make them less vulnerable to life's twists. It will get them into many of the parties, but even the longest parties only last a weekend or so.

Wishing for fame and money is a common desire for most people in our society, but it's a lot like wishing for the new Star Wars series. It's not clear how good life will be once they are a reality. We all assume that money will fix all of our problems when, in truth, it only fixes the financial ones. Lottery winners have complained about the money ruining their life instead of realizing they didn't have much of a life to ruin in the first place. They just became people with no life and lots of money.

This is not an anti-money and fame piece by any means. It's still good to aspire to be something that others will admire, but people should spend a little bit of time to figure out what they enjoy doing. Basically, the best things in life aren't free, but they shouldn't cost that much either.

The United States is a capitalist society, and given some of the other choices we have for an economic system, it's one of the better ones around. Just because it's our system, people still do not need to do every action in the name of making or spending money. Money is just our basis for commerce, fame is just being known for something, and it is still possible to have a decent life without much of either.

All this life leads to is an obituary, and most people get the three line job. Even the guy who discovered Pluto only got a couple quarter page stories written on him. When it's all said and done, the fame fades and the money doesn't remember the dead, so we should all probably strive for other goals.

Chris Jungle is trying to convince his landlord that money isn't the 'end all, be all,' and his rent should be reduced.

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