It was in the news last week. A 7 year old girl won free tickets to a Hanna Montana concert. She had written an ‘essay’ about her dad being killed in Iraq. Then it was discovered she had lied so the tickets were awarded to someone else. I find it hard to blame her. First, how could the handlers of the contest expect someone as young as 7 to ‘write an essay’? Give me a break! Second, let’s not let parents of young girls get off either. When Hanna was recently in Grand Rapids – about an hour from where I live – parents paid sums in the 4 figure range because “they didn’t want their daughters deprived of such an opportunity.’ (Note to my sons – sorry you were deprived of so many important things in your young lives!) Give me a break! But let’s also point to the adults in this young girls life – surely they knew what was going on – perhaps even to the point of helping her write the lie? I can’t say for sure but…well you think about it. Who’s kidding who? The desire for entertainment – and a resulting hero worship – hold strong power in America. And what’s so bad about that? More than I can write here – but let’s not forget the entertainment hunger was one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. That should be warning enough.