It's ironic, really. We've used our mindless preoccupation with celebrity to avoid facing our problems — the quagmire in Iraq, the corruption, incompetence and fear-mongering of the Bush administration, the steady erosion of our constitutional rights, the loss of our reputation in the world — all obfuscated behind a haze of celebrity worship.

Then, along comes the jailhouse sage of privileged Paris Hilton to shake us out of our stupor.

Not since Hurricane Katrina has an event so illuminated the chasm that exists in this country between the haves and the have-nots, and so crystallized public sentiment that things have gone very, very wrong.

Who could have predicted that someone as vain, vapid, and self-absorbed as Paris Hilton could perform such a public service?

First, Katrina, now Paris. Wow. God really does work in mysterious ways.

LYDIA D. STRAYHORN

Ayden