Living Vicariously

There is something infinitely sad about the spectacle of countless people avidly watching, week after week, year after year, a personality of celebrity renown on television; imbibing a message, taking assurance, finding comfort in the thoughts and recommendations of a woman who has excelled at inspiring a wide audience.

It is dreadfully touching, that implicit message, that people have nowhere else to turn, no one else to turn to, to express their misgivings, and to take comfort from at a close and personal level.

Instead, they have formed a psychological bond with an individual whose image and whose voice is transmitted to them over the airwaves, arriving at their home like a trusted and familiar friend whose presence is soothing and eagerly awaited, and whom they feel they know intimately. These viewers and admirers of Oprah Winfrey are legion.

And they are hugely dependent on this woman. What she deems to be of value and of high priority becomes so to them, as well, for this is the way she has steered them.

If something has gone awry in their lives, if there is a bleak awareness that something vital is missing, they turn to her to be inspired by her words of common wisdom.

We are nothing if not pathetic when we cannot find other human beings at close proximity, to reach out to, to speak with one on one, to touch and find much in common with, even in a transitory manner, as neighbours if not reliable friends. Leaving us to look for someone who will fill the gap of companion.

Bereft of contact with others, people turn to that 'other' who has made herself so available. She is there to guide, to comfort, and to bring inspiration to those who avidly watch her and listen to her. And who claim that her influence upon their lives has been a godsend. That the dispiriting issues that they face could never have been transcended without the guidance and comfort they directly derived from indirect contact with Oprah Winfrey.

What is the matter with humankind that they cannot connect with those close at hand?

It's evident that it is not just the ordinary person on the street that has been consumed with the phenomenon of Oprah Winfrey's calming influence and seeming compassion for the whole wide world of her fan club. For other celebrities and well-known people in the world of entertainment and politics appear to have found her constant messages inordinately useful to them personally.

It is a sad thing for those who view her influence on their lives as important, in lieu of themselves finding the importance in their lives. But if people are so miserably vulnerable, perhaps it is just as well that someone like Oprah Winfrey is able to take the initiative to help them to help themselves.