The horribly misplaced priorities of today's youth

Children under 10 think being a celebrity is the "very best thing in the world" but do not think quite as much of God, a survey has revealed.

The poll of just under 1,500 youngsters ranked "God" as their tenth favourite thing in the world, with celebrity, "good looks" and being rich at one, two and three respectively.
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Here is a sample of some of the survey's results: What do you think is the very best thing in the world?

1. Being a Celebrity 2. Good Looks 3. Being Rich 4. Being Healthy 5. Pop Music 6. Families 7. Friends 8. Nice Food 9. Watching Films 10. Heaven/God (Daily Mail)

Wow. That's surprising. That's really, really shocking. If children today really place that much importance in something as empty and shallow as fame, we should all be extremely worried.

I mean, if anything, being rich should be ranked first. It's not even close. Good looks are nice, but they fade, and when you're old and wrinkled, all you'll have left are photos and memories of better times. I also imagine that you probably spend a lot of time staring wistfully at younger good looking people, and sighing quite a bit. But money? Money will still be there for you. Money doesn't care how old you are or what you look like. It loves you all the same. Not to mention, as you get older, you tend to require money to maintain your looks. So being rich is clearly the superior choice.

And celebrity? Who wants celebrity? Maybe in the old days, when celebrities got all the benefits of being famous, but only had to deal with a handful of disreputable tabloids and obsessed fans. But now, being a celebrity means having embarrassing photos plastered all over the Internet, or being stalked by some maniac, or ending up on that website that lists famous people who have herpes. Who needs it?

It is somewhat encouraging to see that kids recognize that pop music is more important than family and friends. I don't know how many times I've had to sacrifice my pop music listening time because of some other obligation. And if there were a fire, and I had to choose between saving my family or Justin Timberlake, I like to think I'd do the right thing and save Justin Timberlake.

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that God is less important than money, movies, good looks, celebrity, pop music, or food.

So really, this is the list as it should be:

1. Being rich, 2. Being healthy, 3. Good looks, 4. Watching films, 5. Nice food, 6. Pop music, 7. Family, 8. Friends, 9. Being a celebrity, 10. Heaven/God.

Oh, wait. They don't even mention TV. Or football. Okay, here's the revised list:

1. Being rich, 2. Being healthy, 3. Good looks, 4. Watching films, 5. TV, 6. Football, 7. Nice food, 8. Pop music, 9. Family, 10. Friends.

There we go. Much better.