Please Help.
Death is in the Air
by
Paul Petersen

I am suspending my string of essays on "Kid Nation," as critically important as that unethical production may be, for a matter of life and death that is staring all of us in the face.

Do we just sit around doing nothing…as with Anna Nicole Smith…and wait for death to be the legacy of Lindsay, Britney, Nicole Richie or Paris Hilton? These four are being called "The Four Bimbos of the Apocalypse." They are not. They are young women who, as too many families can tell you from personal experience, represent the desperate condition of young women throughout the world who in word, thought and deed are being sold into a tawdry addiction to fame, sex, drugs and alcohol.

A Minor Consideration began in January 1990 on the strength of Intervention. We have never strayed from our roots. We have a platoon of highly trained experts standing by to help. We have facilities, therapists, set-sitters, drivers and bodyguards who couldn't care less about celebrity. Most importantly, we have a walking army of survivors, former kid stars who have come back to sobriety without the impossible burden of anonymity. Our 12-Step program works. One-Third of our members walk the walk.

Why aren't the people closest to these four young women calling on us? Why aren't donations pouring in to help us fight this battle on behalf of the NEXT generation of kids in this Business who are absorbing terrible messages about what passes for success? It's insanity to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Has this country lost its mind? Is the Industry itself so absent moral authority that it's paralyzed by political correctness?

Or is the money so big that a little death here and there has just become the cost of doing business? Is the up-tick in ratings that important, or the increased sale of tabloids so dear, or the price of an unauthorized photo so high that it excuses every sin, every error in judgment by the global media conglomerates that determine virtually everything you see, hear or read?

What have we become? Each of these four have been subject to traditional methods of behavior modification. Nothing has worked. Far worse than jail or the loss of reputation lies ahead for these fame junkies unless something different is tried. The common denominator of all these failed procedures is that the people behind them want to return all four women into the very life and lifestyle that made them what they are today.

How sick is that?

Recovery cannot be bought at a five star resort. Friends who do nothing when their meal ticket drinks and uses while under court authority are no friends at all. Agents, Managers, Producers and Co-Stars who hope for the best instead of doing what's best are morally bankrupt no matter what profit they're chasing.

Four sets of Parents, however flawed they may be, have not yet made contact with A Minor Consideration. Why is that? What are they afraid of? Could it be that we know too much? At least three so-called treatment centers have failed to bring in the only group in existence that covers this ground. Why?

Both theatrical unions have standing instructions to pass along our contact information. Our webmistress passes every contact along. We're here. We're not going away. Secrets are safe with us. We never say, "I told you so," or pass judgment.

Doing nothing is the only inexcusable act. Allow me the additional time to tell you about the only positive developments to have come out of the very public troubles of Lindsay, Britney, Paris and Nicole.

Six young people, five young women and one young man who would be known to virtually all of you, have voluntarily entered treatment in the past five months because they see in their own lives the predictable consequences of blindly following the advice of their "handlers" and parents who are too narrowly focused on their careers. Education and character matter.

Your donations matter, not for the Fearsome Foursome, but for those kids just coming up with loads of talent and tons of fear. “Is this what you have to do to be a success?” they’re wondering. Your support keeps us going. We've spent eighteen years (that’s almost four ‘generations’ of kid stars) assembling teams of former kid stars and professionals of every stripe to deal with public and private troubles…except one.

The one trouble we cannot overcome is the failure to communicate. If you have any tie to a kid with problems in the business and that moment of clarity arrives when you realize an intervention is in order, for God's sake, call. We don't care if you're a parent or one of the paparazzi, a celebrity's drug dealer or bondsman, a counselor or a court official. Pick up a phone and call.

We'll answer. We'll show up.

We've had to learn the hard lesson of failing to take care of each other. Our pledge is to show up when a young person is in trouble…free of charge. And friends, we've got a lot of trouble.

Parents, Pals or Paparazzi, please don't fail in this. Given the way these girls drive, the life you save may be your own.

Isn't it obvious that what you've been doing doesn't work?