Reading the paper lately has become somewhat analogous to walking through a mine field of bullshit. Anyone who has had a television, radio or newspaper at hand in the last few weeks has seen footage of the extrication of lady Diana’s car from the tunnel in Paris. They have also seen the death of a living saint, Mother Teresa. Teresa’s climb to sainthood within the Catholic Church will take approximately fifty years to become realized. Diana’s climb to this lofty height, however, happened overnight. Mother Teresa did more for the sick and the poor than Diana ever dreamed of doing. The public’s misplacement of values shows the star-struck blindness of a people who have come to worship the media as opposed to a true god.

Before her death — indeed on the very night of her death — tabloids were constantly hounding Diana trying to get "the sleeze" on her. They constantly insinuated promiscuity and a spoiled lifestyle were the key traits of the ex-princess of Wales, and the public bought the stories offered by the sleeze Nazis. It therefore seemed ironic that the very entity that spent years disgracing Diana would turn around and deify her after her death. This turnabout is not simply a case of guilt because of media paparazzi being involved with her death. This same pattern can be seen with regards to JFK, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis; the list goes on. Guilt, perhaps, was a factor in as far as feeling sorry for having hunted Diana all her life. It’s also possible that the media felt some guilt about printing so many unfounded rumors just to make a quick buck. Or maybe the media felt it owed her something for all the money she helped it make. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Diana went from the slut who was seen with a different man every month to the saint who helped little orphan children and land mine victims.

Taking a look at Mother Teresa, on the other hand, gives us a portrait of a true saint. Here is a woman who lived poor, cared for AIDS patients, cared for the sick and fed the hungry. She not only helped the poor but she lived poor and led by example. The red tape in the way of canonizing Teresa is unbelievable and will take quite possibly fifty years or so (this is of course unless the church feels pressured by the media attention a decision of this magnitude may attract). This woman of far greater works got only a commercial when compared to the Diana Super Bowl funeral extravaganza.