POOR BRITNEY. I just read some celebrity gossip that Britney Spears has been seen, stalked, and photographed smoking CIGARETTES. Heaven forbid. Britney?!?!? The teen idol? The pop-princess? Dear Gawd, how could she? What was she thinking?

No, this is bad. This is the beginning of an uncontrollable nicotine craze that will be no less influential than the catholic school girl uniform that was all the rage amongst hot ladies, both young and old! Not only will young, impressionable kids everywhere be scantily clad but soon Phillip Morris will be everywhere: On the radio, on the tabloids, on MTV...

Please Britney! Don't light up again, if not for yourself but for the children!

Britney Spears, whether in the universal spotlight or not, has every right to do exactly what she wants to do. That means if she wants to wear virtually nothing on stage, she can do it. If she wants to walk out on the street without a lick of make up, that is her business. And if she wants to pick up a poisonous, albeit highly gratifying habit such as smoking cigarettes, she has the same fundamental right as anyone else to do as she pleases. Whether she is a role model for young girls or not, it's the individual statement that she intends to make that counts, and not the anti-smoking campaign that has somehow invaded every household in the United States.

Let's take a step back. Since when did a little smoke inhaled-exhaled between sips of coffee make pop's most beloved star a person who makes excessively bad choices? I'm sure Britney will stay the same person who she is and has always been regardless of an after-meal puff, unless of course the media doesn't back off and stop making her feel like a horrible person.

Many people will say that she asked to be in the limelight, and that she should accept the responsibilities. That is true, but when it comes to gratifying yourself or feeling responsible for the welfare of all the world's youth, I have to side with being realistic and making my own self happy. Growing up is not easy, and oftentimes coming into adulthood is like a metamorphosis upon which the final product is naturally distinct from its latter form. And let's face it. She was young when she became the princess of America. Nowadays, she's not that innocent and certainly has her own life to worry about...

Instead of placing blame on this one person for the ails of society, let's blame MTV for making Britney such a ridiculously huge icon. Let's blame Pepsi for plastering her image over every cosmopolitan city. Let's blame AOL Time Warner for trying to take a young woman and matching her up against impossibly high standards. And let's try not to make a scapegoat out of one woman.