Under the Lens

Celebrity shenanigans.

Think Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan et al. Paparazzi are probably on their heels come rain or shine so their every misstep gets to be frozen in images broadcast, Facebooked or emailed daily to a celebrity-crazed world.

Well, at least that’s what I see on Australian television nowadays. The former has been the hottest item in the past four days, competing with the tons of reviews on the worst and best-dressed at the Oscars, along with the racist and anti-Semitic remarks of fashion empire Dior’s creative director John Galliano.

Sheen seems to have been booted out of his widely-viewed TV sitcom. Just this morning, networks and talk shows buzzed of his twin babies being taken out of his custody.

Too, commentators discussed a possible earnings loss of $40 million for ace golfer Tiger Woods because of the scandals and the aftermath of his womanizing ways.

What’s your first impulse to buzz like these?

Raised eyebrows? Indifference?

“Good for him, he deserves it!”

“These guys talk of an earnings loss of $40 million. Hello, he’s still rich even if!”

“Here they go again, cocaine-sniffing celebrities! When will they ever learn?”

I’ve probably responded with most of the above, shaking my head and dismissing these “types” as something out of my moral league.

Come to think of it, they’re so rich and famous and yet so damaged. Makes you realize that money and fame don’t make a man. They expose one’s real nature. What if I were in their shoes?

But instead of being sorry and praying for them, I have most of the time behaved like a pharisee− condemning, judgmental and self-righteous to a T.

These celebs get all the flak because they’re under the lens. You’d also be paranoid when paparazzi descend on you like vultures even in your supposed yawning or burping episodes. They’re guys out to make a buck.

As for the networks and publications− it’s simply about high ratings and newsstand sales. Money surely makes their world go round. And what vicious no-mercy go-round it makes.

There’s no excuse for their motives either.

But imagine those cameras endlessly trailing us too. Because whether we like it or not, a paparazzo lens of another kind is permanently trained on us likewise. We can’t hide from it. And it’s spelled with a capital P.

THE PAPA-razzo, Father God with His all-knowing, ever-present, ever-probing lens.

Magnifier so powerful, it scans even the heart and the brain, perceiving every thought, word, desire, plan, envy, lust, fear, worry, even deceits and schemes before they spew forth from our mouths.

While the buck-motivated small "papa" captures only the externals, with our PAPA-razzi, nothing is ever a secret, even our heartaches, pains and longing to be disentangled from bad habits which have led us to thorny paths− perhaps the very same prison these celebrities want to desperately break free from.

That’s why it’s stupid of me to raise an eyebrow on others while they too can raise theirs on my failings− if they knew my insides.

No wonder Jesus said (John 8) to those who were pursuing a woman caught in adultery, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” No one dared.

Turning to the woman, he asked, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she replied.

“Then, neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Let’s pray these celebs seek Jesus. He will surely pursue them.