Heiress a symbol of her generation

Published 12:05 pm Monday, March 3, 2008

God, bless Paris Hilton.

If it wasn’t for her, we could be faced with a real problem — young women thinking there’s more to life than sunglasses and designer shoes. Imagine if our daughters dreamed of careers in business and medicine over whatever it is that Hilton and her girlfriends do to pay the bills.

Hilton was born with infinite potential.

She had every privilege and opportunity to become a high-power, educated professional.

Hilton chose instead to lead a Barbie doll existence, complete with the Malibu dream house and umbilical cord attached to mommy’s bank account.

It’s hard for most of us to sympathize with Hilton, who is serving a 40-day jail sentence for driving with a suspended license — the hotel chain heiress’ second parole violation since her driving privileges were suspended last year following a drunk driving arrest.

We shrug it off as one more Hollywood headline and go about our day.

Meanwhile, we’re budgeting for our children’s birthday extravaganzas, because some fashion/parenting magazine said homemade cupcakes and grab bags aren’t good enough anymore.

We’re dipping into our savings to buy laptop computers for our toddlers.

When you stop and think about it, Hilton’s story isn’t isolated to Hollywood.

We’re turning out a generation of children, who — regardless of their parents’ socio-economic status — have never gone without anything.

My daughter isn’t even 2 yet, and she’s accumulated more boxes of junk than I have.

I still can’t walk out of a store empty handed.

It’s addictive — the smile that spreads over her face when I hand her a present.

I wonder what the expression on her face will look like 15 years from now when I tell her, “Sorry, sweetheart. We spent all your college money on toys and birthday parties.”

There’s something very wrong with that scenario.

But, according to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics, it’s not far off. Nearly 70 percent of undergraduates at public universities are using some form of financial aid to pay for school. At private universities, that statistic jumps more than 13 percent.

Suddenly, Hilton’s mess of a life seems a lot less funny.

There are millions of men and women who want nothing more than an education — an opportunity to improve their circumstances.

I think about them every time the Hollywood demigoddess opens her mouth — “That’s hot.”

It makes me a little queasy to see 10-year-olds prancing around with Gucci sunglasses and bleached blond hair.

Perhaps Hilton can serve as a wake-up call to all of us, “This is what happens when you treat your children like pets instead of people.”

Alexis Bacharach is editor of the Mill Creek Enterprise.