Who Am I To Judge?

We all have our vices. The little demons that upset the otherwise constant hum of life. I’m no exception. In fact, there was a time when I could barely contain my lust for milk and cookies. And I’m ashamed to say it, but I have OD’d on donuts on more than one occasion.

Thankfully, I’ve put those vices behind me, at least for now. But just when I start to enjoy life's constant hum, other little demons pop up. Right now for me, I am addicted to a certain comfy rocker recliner. I also have a penchant for Diet Coke.

It is for this reason that I have trouble joining in the loud chorus celebrating the fall of one Britney Spears. Sure, she partied way too hard and way too publicly. She also exhibited some odd parenting skills, including once hanging her child out of the window of a moving car. We all thought we had seen her hit rock bottom when she drank too much and shaved her head. But the young sexbot – my word for a woman who has no apparent value to society other than arousing sexual desire in men (and perhaps lesbians) – wasn’t through yet. In her latest act of self-destruction, a scantily clad Britney went on national TV to sing her latest pop hit and ended up making a fool of herself.

Yet, who am I to judge? Instead of joining the throngs (not thongs) piling on the troubled sexbot, I sympathize with her. Like her, I spend my days battling my own demons. And because of this sin, I can not cast the first stone.

True, I’ve never gotten drunk and shaved my head (at least not that I remember). I’ve also never hung my infant child out the window of a moving vehicle. And I’m not sure if during her lip-synched MTV performance she forgot the words to the song or simply lost interest, but whatever happened, I’ve also never done that. Our demons may be different, but our fight is the same. We struggle every day to be better people.

At one time, for one brief, shining moment, Britney Spears had it all. But alas, shining moments fade and young sexbots get drunk, shave their heads, mistreat their kids, and eventually make fools of themselves on national TV. Britney is not the first to do this and she won’t be . . .wait, she actually is the first to do this. But the point remains, we each have our little demons. They got the best of Britney this time, but next time it could be you or me.

So in honor of sexbot extraordinaire Britney Spears, I will go another day refusing the sweet elixir that is Diet Coke (I’m up to nine days without the wonderful caffeine-infused drink). However, I can not shun the siren song of my Lazy Boy. So here I’ll sit thinking of Britney, and wishing for stronger days for both of us.

One day at a time, Britney. One day at a time.