Really wealthy celebrity? Really?

Free admission, I used to be a big fan of Oprah back in the day when she was new to Chicago's talk shot concept, and she was closer to transvestites and relationships gone wrong than she was angels and giving out her favorite things.  Somewhere along the way, however, I've noticed that while she believes in her heart of hearts she's still a "regular gal," she's wrong.  "Regular" kicked her off the bus long ago.  I've seen bits of shows where it's obvious she doesn't understand the struggles of daily life at all.

So keep that in mind as you read along.

I've been a little absent.  The holidays usually hold a fair amount of melancholy for me.  I miss key members of my family who have passed on, and I spend way too much time worrying I'm not giving my kids the Norman Rockwell Christmas I, at least, had a taste of, if, you know, Norman Rockwell painted about Eastern European immigrants and their progeny.  This year had the added excitement of my husband's joblessness and cringing at every gift request my kids made. 

I'm folding laundry last night, being all domestic and what not, and the TV is on for noise.  Now, this was an edited commercial I heard, so I'm HOPING there was more humility to it than I heard. 

Oprah is on screen, and she says, "Really, I have the most stressful life of anyone in the world." I will freely admit there is probably great stress involved in maintaining an international media presence, along with the company and employees that go along with that branding effort.  But of ANYONE? In the WORLD?  Like I said, I'm hoping in the original that's followed by "but still there are many worse off than I am" or something akin to that sentiment, but I'm guessing not.

Specifically for Oprah, then.  (Feel free to pass this along if you are intimate BFFs with Oprah):

• There are people who are stressed beyond belief because they lost their children in either recent super storms or senseless killings.  They feel more stress than you do.
• Soldiers who couldn't be with their families this holiday season and wonder if today's the day they might not come back in from maneuvers, they have more stress than you do.
• My friend's 24 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with stage 3 brain cancer and was given 2-3 years to live. I'm sure there are many like her.  They have more stress than you do.
• My husband has been out of work for three months, and only two years ago he ended an almost 3 year long streak of unemployment.  There are COUNTLESS people like us.  All of us have more stress than you do.
• There are people who feel defeated in life for no other reason than the chemistry in their brains isn't right, but they don't know how to solve it.  They have more stress than you do.

I pretty much consider this the short list. Perhaps Oprah needs to start employing censors to keep her from sounding stupid.  It would be money well spent.