Celebrities Deliver What We Want

People are fickle.
We’re judgmental (heck, I’m being judgmental just by writing it).

We LOVED Michael Jackson, until we didn’t (and then we did).
We LOVED Bill Clinton, until we didn’t.
We LOVED Michael Vick, until we didn’t (and then we did again).
We LOVED Alex Rodriguez, until we didn’t.
We LOVED Miley Cyrus, until we didn’t.

Chances are there’s someone in your life right now you can think, if you haven’t already, that fits in this same formula. For whatever reason, they offended you or hurt you or did something you just don’t quite agree with and now…

I LOVED _____, until I didn’t.

People are ranting and raving all over the Internets about Miley’s performance at the VMAs. I didn’t watch the VMAs, let alone her performance, but I did see images the day after. I don’t understand why she’s receiving so much criticism for how she dressed or danced. I don’t understand all the finger pointing and negativity. I don’t understand why we (yes, I’m lumping us all together here) feel it’s necessary to tear her down, when WE want to be BUILT UP.

Of course, I say this tongue-in-cheek. I do UNDERSTAND… I just don’t agree with it.

Celebrity definitely has its downside. Celebrities aren’t allowed to mess up (well, actually they are and we like it, just look at magazine sales from your local grocery store check out stand). Celebrities live under a microscope. We want to know what he’s wearing. We want to know what she’s eating. We want to know where he’s shopping. We want to know who she’s dating. We want to know his criminal record. We want to know how she’s so thin. We want to see him getting arrested. We want to see her getting a divorce. We want it so bad TV shows were created so we could follow their lives.

Kinda sick if you ask me (yes, I’m being judgmental).

Celebrities are heralded as ICONS and IDOLS and ROLE MODELS… and why?

Parents don’t want to be held responsible for how their children turn out and definitely don’t want to have to actually invest time and energy into raising them.

Ouch.
Right?

I don’t look at the images of Miley Cyrus and think, “How could she?” I see those images and I ask, “What happened?” I see crazy every day (I’ve been married for 11 years and have 3 kids… HELLO!). I’m not surprised by Miley Cyrus’ performance. I’m not appalled. I’m saddened. She’s just a messed up person like me (and you). Believe me, I’ve made my share of mistakes and I continue making mistakes each and every day of my life. The difference? I don’t have cameras following me around, so I can hide in my own mess on the other side of the TV and point a finger at her instead.

After all, who wants to deal with their own crap anyways?

Don’t be so quick to judge. Remember celebrities are just people and people mess up. We make mistakes. We stumble. We fall. We need someone to help us UP, not tear us DOWN.

I honestly don’t remember the last time I wanted to make a positive change in my life because someone called me…

Stupid…
Idiot…
Worthless…
Whore…
Gay…
Mistake…
Lost…
#@*! up…

Don’t expect Miley to change. Change starts with you.

Reflect:

• Why are we so drawn to gossip?
• How do you respond when people start talking about others?
• When was the last time you messed up? How’d you want people to respond?
• What would happened if you spent more time praying FOR someone than talking ABOUT them?