The lobster vs. Mary Kate

I've been feeling kind of low about the death of our yellow lobster. I have! It's so poetically sad -- this one-in-30-million creature whisked from the ocean and photographed, filmed and handled to death. It's like E.T., only without the medical tent and suction cups. (Or Splash, actually.) The public is outraged at everyone from the fisherman who put it on display to the media and tourists who went to see it: See what happens when we're all out for our fifteen minutes! Or something. I can't  say exactly why I feel bad; it just seemed touching that a lobster received global attention at all, so much so, that in all the excitement people got a little Lennie-from-Of-Mice-and-Men about it. (Remember the tragic giant who pet his beloved mice to death? We didn't attack him. We just felt sad that he couldn't understand how to go easy.)

Anyway, I'm seriously stretching it here, but it seemed vaguely ironic that Mary Kate Olsen is in the headlines today for confessing she wouldn't really wish her "little performing monkey" childhood on anyone, though she recognizes the opportunities it brought. Mary Kate and her twin, as you may know, were whisked from their cradles to star in "Full House" at nine months old. More public outrage, but this time everyone's on the other side: How dare the Olsen twins, when there is so much suffering in the world! Plenty of people would love to be a star!

I feel quite sure there's a lesson to be learned here, about fame or humanity or something, but it's probably just something like "everybody, go easier" and nothing fun. I will quietly ponder it on my own time. ;)

R.I.P., little lobster.