I have never been famous. Nor do I expect to be famous in this lifetime or afterward.

I am sure when I was younger I likely had some ambition toward fame. And even now as I grow somewhat wiser, I see someone famous who is able to travel to far flung locations or own a huge home and consider how nice such amenities would be. But more I long for the funds that often come with fame rather than the actual fame.

Some people long to be known. To have their face recognized. I have no taste for this. It is hard enough knowing lots of people and worrying as you step out the door to run to the grocery that there is a chance you will run into someone you know and your dirty tee shirt and bed head will put them off. I do not need to worry about thousands of people who might see me in such a state. I do not want a camera shoved in my face as I stumble out of a bar (though it has been a long time since I stumbled from one).

I wonder where the longing for fame originates. Perhaps it is a need for validation. If you are famous the world is validating that “Yes, you are better than the rest of us down below.”

Today with the internet there are more famous people. Now you can put up a blog or a video and over night you could be famous. I have a few blogs, I follow that I consider my internet celebrity. The people I enjoy the most are good at writing or taking photographs and are knowledgeable in their field such as cooking or home design. Most have some outside career and their internet presence is linked to their job. Their blog allows us just another outlet to bask in their glow.

But as the internet expands out ,like the real universe, and more and more people realize that they can have a small level of fame, that the sun can shine a little brighter on them, they put up pages that have no real value or talent. Perhaps my blog is the same though I have no perception that this blog would ever make me famous. However these people’s fame seem built mainly on being annoying and obnoxious to the point that no one can ignore them. The plan works as such people now have name recognition.

Is it worth being famous for being annoying? This I cannot answer. Maybe no matter how the attention comes to you, it still feels like you are basking in a brighter ray of sunshine. Whether it is for being a famed artist or a famed trainwreck.

Or perhaps such people are just fulfilling a role that our society needs. If not for the infamous trainwrecks, the obnoxious, and annoying, we would feel worse about ourselves. We need huge examples of the imperfect so that we can feel better about when we roll out of bed and go to the grocery with bed head.