Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton: Creatures of habit

On Friday, November 16, I'll have another column about a film that deals with habits/addictions: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." It deals with how a choice to change circumstances is one way -- and sometimes the only way -- to overcome bad habits.

When we want to learn about bad habits being hard to break, we can watch some of the current celebrities. People like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan fit Woody Allen's definition of "celebrities." He said they're people who are famous for . . . being famous.

They're three young women who "go partying." They drink too much -- and then get in their cars and drive. They have one failed romance after another.

Some people ask: "Since they have so much trouble with driving, why don't they hire a driver?" They certainly have enough money -- perhaps tens of millions of dollars.

In fact, the reason they don't pay for a limo service is that driving -- actually, driving badly -- is part of who they are. Frankly, they're not the only people in America who get a feeling of peace -- or liberation -- or exhilaration by turning on the key and going on their way.

Having someone else drive them is for them, one speculates, something like taking a shower in a rain coat. They have a variation on Descartes famous dictum: "I think, therefore, I am. For Britney, Paris, and Lindsay, it goes this way, "I drive, therefore, I am."

Thus, they drive for the same reason they relentlessly "party." It's a habit that only a jail term -- perhaps -- can break. Driving is something like smoking (at least for Britney). It's one of the "grown-up" things they do.

It's quite a habit. If they don't have a valid driver's license, or if they're obviously intoxicated or "high," they still drive.

These young women, "train wrecks waiting to happen," are the ultimate creatures of habit.

They get out of rehab -- or out of jail -- and then they go back to the same circumstances they were in before. And then they party . . . and drive.

If, say, Britney moved to Ambridge, PA, she wouldn't have to drive. As I explained before, everything is within walking distance. However, what my wife and I regard as "everything," she would regard as nothing.

I can hear her now saying, "There's NOTHING to do here."

Poor girl. She needs to adopt my philosophy of living better on less, but she never will.