There are a number of things that people ought to be concerned about on this planet, in this century. Among them are:

• The environment
• World hunger
• Terrorism (global and home-grown)
• Bigotry and discrimination
• Sustainable energy sources
• Decline in educational levels in U.S.
• Human Rights violations worldwide
• Violence and persecution in the Middle East
• Russia’s apparent intent to establish a soviet-style empire
• Gun regulation and violent crime

Note that this is my own list, roughly prioritized by my own philosophies, and everybody will have a slightly different idea of what is or isn’t important. I get that and it doesn’t bother me in the least. Obviously there are many, many more issues of importance, but I limited my list to my top ten, in hopes of finishing this article sometime today. I should also add that the health, well-being and happiness of my friends and family are high on my priority list, but I did not include them in the above list, as that is a personal priority, not a public one.

That said, let me put forth another list, this time of things that people ought NOT to be concerned about:
• Caitlyn Jenner
• Anything Kardashian
• Anything Duggar
• The amount of air in a football
• Any sports persona
• What people wear to shop at Wal-Mart
• George Clooney
• Lindsay Lohan/Miley Cyrus

Are you getting the picture? People are only relevant in my world if either a) I know them personally, or b) they are world leaders or in a position to make changes (positive or negative) in the world. By this definition, a political candidate may be considered relevant, but not his/her personal life. I do not care if he/she had an affair or smoked pot in college … it is not my business, will not affect my judgement of him/her, and I will not waste my precious time reading about it. If I read and study about just the ten issues in the first list, then I certainly don’t have time to care about any of the things in the second list. So why is it that both mainstream and social media seem to be flooding the airwaves with the “B-list” stories? Is this what we, as a society, have been reduced to? Do we not have enough to do in our own lives that we need to concern ourselves with the day-to-day trivia in the life of a total stranger?
My own criteria for determining relevancy is whether, ten years from now, it will likely still matter. Think about that and re-read the lists. I would stake my life-savings on the fact that every single item in the first list will continue being an issue in ten years and will be in history books 100 years from now. I will also bet that any name on list two will be long-forgotten, replaced by yet some other shallow sports/entertainment “celebrity” of the next decade. According to the Washington Post, there are now more than 300 “reality” shows on television. Seriously??? Television producers only produce shows that make money through advertising, and advertisers only support shows that people watch, so this means that the bulk of people are actually spending their valuable time watching other people live their lives instead of living their own lives. I find this a sad statement about our society. Does anybody else?