Communication and intelligence-sharing is needed for security purposes but just how deep into our private lives should Big Brother intrude? Personal freedom means freedom to be ourselves, to go wherever, and do whatever, we want as long as it doesn't infringe on rights of others. Do others have, in fact, right to know who and where we are?

Look at almost-bride's eyes in every photograph. She looks like a terrified rabbit seeking a way to bolt - and finally she did. Poor little rabbit, you didn't get very far, did you?

The occasional urge to flee, to run off to join circus, to tie up our goods in a scarf on a stick and set off to see world, tempts all of us at times.

Forget it. You'll be found, brought back, publicly humiliated, and presented with a bill for money it cost to search for you.

No wonder we read books, watch movies, and play games rooted in fantasy. Was it a coincidence that both George bride and California housewife both headed for Las Vegas, ultimate fantasy? We are no longer allowed a life of adventure or exploration, spending our days, as Thoreau envisioned, leading lives of "quiet desperation."

Because he's 'cute'? The prisoner who received even more such mail was Charles Manson and even his mother couldn't call Charlie 'cute."

We respond to celebrities, and try to somehow enter their lives, because there is an inner vacuum we desperately need to fill. Imagine if all that core emptiness was to focus on concerns other than famous: on volunteering to help homeless and poor, on reaching out towards world peace and human dignity, on adopting lost children and giving them a future, or on visiting sick and dying.

The problem is that there is no glitter in rubbing elbows with needy no-names. It takes too much time and energy to get involved in charity works when we can simply show up as a celebrity circus and make believe that we are actually part of scene.

The tabloids are not interested in publicizing programs and people out of spotlight because they know it won't sell. So we continue to devour every rumor, every snippet of gossip, every carefully placed picture and article about our stars, and assiduously avoid self-examination that would reveal hollow values and personal desperation that lurks inside.