Addicted to Strangers

  Was Esteban just a handsome man or a drug? In Gabriel Marquez's, The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World, the people were so completely taken with Esteban even though he was, in fact, just a man. It's like the world today-a pretty face and everyone wants to be you. People love you. They idolize you. It makes no sense that we can me so mesmerized by people we don't even know.

  Yes, there was something magical about Esteban, but he was just a man. No one knew him personally, yet they felt as if they had a connection with him. The people of the village worshiped him in a way. Even after he was gone, he still influenced their lives as they began to change their village. They changed physical features of their village and their way of life so that if he wanted to visit them he could. In their hearts, they truly loved Esteban and wanted him to return, even when they knew that wasn't possible.

  In a sense, Esteban represents celebrities in our current culture. People fall in love daily with actresses and actors, sometimes based solely on the fact that they're good looking. It's exactly like the villagers and Esteban. We know nothing about who these celebrities we idolize really are. I don't understand why people can become so obsessed with someone they've never met. People's personalities can be complete opposites from their outward appearance.

  Esteban and celebrities resemble a drug when you actually think about it. They cause(purposefully or not) people to become addicted to them. People begin to idolize them, and soon their lives begin to revolve around the celebrity. Why are entire cultures wrapped up in complete strangers? We could be focusing on helping and loving those people around us that we actually have the opportunity to know.