Miss USA trips!

One of the top stories in the entertainment world yesterday revolved around this year's Miss USA, Crystle Stewart, tripping on the train of her evening gown and tumbling to the floor, a near exact replica of last year's Miss USA, Rachel Smith, falling in the same portion of the competition.

Granted, the fact that Miss USA has tripped, on her own dress, during her entrance in the evening gown competition, at the Miss Universe competition, for two years in a row now, yeah, that's kind of sad.

Let's take a look at some of the other headlines over the weekend.

"Stripper takes off clothes slowly." Really? No that's not all. This Las Vegas stripper is 80 years old. Let's review that again, an 80 year old woman, is a headliner for a strip club in Las Vegas. Stripper, 80 year old, and Vegas are not generally things commonly heard in a sentence.

Brangelina, that's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for those who aren't up on the latest lingo, had their twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, on Sunday. Don't forget, Brad and Angelina are not married and their child count has now grown to six.

Tennis star Anna Kournikova had to tell the press she was not married, not pregnant, and did not have a boob job, "what else?" She said she felt violated by the personal questions and inquires into her private life.

Madonna's brother wrote a book "Life with my sister Madonna" telling all about how A-Rod and Guy Richie ruined his relationship with his sister.

These headlining stories are just a taste of what has been plaguing the news and thousands of Internet blogs around the country. What's a good response to these gossip stirring stories? "Why should I care?" That'll work.

Shouldn't stories such as President Bush lifting the ban on Offshore Drilling, a contingent of U.S. Troops holding off over 200 insurgents looking to overrun a U.S. base in Afghanistan, the fact that a little exercise may slow Alzheimer's brain shrinkage, and other actually important events going on, be in the "breaking news" category?

It's true, the American society lives on gossip. There is no denying that, but why? There are so many other important things going on every single day that are being ignored just so people can get some kicks and giggles out of Miss USA tripping or the strange names Brangelina chose for their twins.

Perhaps it's time for society to change its priorities. A valid question to this would be "How would that work? The media runs everything." Not true. The media is, or at least should be, controlled by the readers and views of every single organization. So how is it possible to change these priorities? Easy. Stop listening, watching, or reading the gossip. Perhaps writing a letter to the editor of whichever magazine, newspaper, or television station is broadcasting these gossip style stories and voicing an opinion. Take, for example, Ralph Waldo Emerson's statement, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment."

It's easy to sit back and think, "It's been this way for so long, what's the use in trying to change it?" Is that really a way to live? Deal with something because it seems difficult to change? Or perhaps give it a shot, who knows, anything's possible. Maybe even one day, they will teach Miss USA to walk in an evening gown without falling.