Should Dick Clark End his New Year's Reign?

As did millions of people, I rang in the New Year with Dick Clark (and a few friends.) I think it's great that despite his stroke, Dick Clark is still a New Year's staple. I actually can't imagine New Year's without him.

Incredibly, the next day I heard a few people commenting at a Starbucks that Dick should step aside because his stroke-slurred speech somehow dampened the festivities.

 How do some people manage to float through a sanitized life, as if Disney were art directing every scene? You know the type - their place-card and napkin-ringed existence must never be soiled by the realities of a flesh and blood world. Where do these people come from? And at what point does reality give them their long-overdue wake-up smack in the face?

Recently, at a fast-food place with my six year-old, her classmate and mom, a person at a nearby table suffered a heart attack. A good Samaritan immediately administered CPR.  I dialed 911 on my cell phone. That's when my daughter's friend and her mom fled the restaurant as if someone had just tossed in a live grenade. The next time we met, I asked her what happened. "I don't want my daughter seeing that sort of thing," she snapped. Don't you love it when adults try to excuse their own cowardice/bad behavior by laying it off on "the children?"

At 82, it's been a while since Dick's been called the world's oldest teenager. Yet, he remains a marvel and an inspiration. In 2004 he suffered a severe stroke, but was back to his (reduced) hosting duties the very next year. (He also suffers from Type-2 diabetes.) Clark seems to be one of those "if you don't like him, you're abnormal" celebrities.  And why not? More than just a talented MC, he's a legitimate mogul, whose tireless efforts put him on the Forbes 400 and whose production empire has provided lucrative careers for many people for many years.

About ten years ago, when I was a reporter at People magazine, I interviewed Dick Clark at a party. It was like talking to someone I'd known for a long time. He was so friendly, so "normal", so nice.   

 And now, because he suffered a physical setback, he's supposed to what - disappear? Why? So we can forget that people suffer strokes? That life isn't always as perfect as Ryan Seacrest's smile?

How fitting that his headliner this year was Lady Gaga - young enough to be his grand daughter yet wise enough to make "born this way" her mantra to legions of her "little monster" fans.

To Dick and Gaga - Happy New Year!

To the mental Peter Pans who demand a world without warts — grow up!