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Celebrity: Must we have daily fix on it?

Have we become a nation starved for celebrities?

The Associated Press reported that the escapade of a 6-year-old Ohio boy &emdash; who wandered away from a daycare center, hot-wired a toy monster truck and rode it along a busy highway &emdash; has made him a natonal media darling.

It seems that the family of young John Carpenter has been besieged with telephone calls from television shows, supermarket tabloids, Canadian newspapers and radio stations in the aftermath of the incident. Booking staffers from "The Tonight Show" also called, wanting the lad to appear with Jay Leno.

Yes, John Carpenter was ingenious, quick-witted, daring and, mainly, lucky. Many folks who read of the youngster's adventure responded with laughter and a shake of the head. People, no doubt, are eager to learn more about the boy's exploits and might be amused to observe his explanation on national television.

But it cannot be overlooked that what the child did also was at the very least disruptive and at the most dangerous, to himself and to others. Ultimately, the youngster's ride on the wild side was, in a word, wrong. Hopefully, other impressionable young children will be shielded from reading or hearing the details of his caper. We pity the poor parents who must try to explain to their offspring why the pint-sized celebrity's action is still too risky to imitate, despite his moment in the limelight.

Of course, the burning question remains: How will John Carpenter's family keep him off the tiny monster truck freeway after he's seen Tinseltown?

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