This week the hubby and I watched Oprah interview Lance Armstrong, 7 time winner of the Tour de France, so he could admit to years of lying about doping and using performance enhancing drugs to win races. I probably would not have watched the interview if it weren't for my husband's adoration for Lance over the last decade. I have given him a hard time over the past couple of years for wearing the yellow Livestrong bracelets and continuuing to buy Armstrong products, but despite my teasing he stayed loyal to one of his sporting idols. After watching the interview, I left with two thoughts....Number one that Oprah has an ability unlike any other interviewer to take someone you don't like for whatever number of reasons, in the case of Armstrong being a cheater and a liar, and humanizing them to the point of empathizing with them and in some instances even finding them likable. My second, and more important, thought was......who will my kids grow up idolizing?
This is by no means a slam against my husband for loving Lance, we all have celebrities, athletes, etc. that we follow, secretly want to meet or be like or look like....but it scares me when I look at what is out there for my kids to chose from....I mean what kind of lesson could someone possibly learn from watching The Kardashians yet I have wasted more than an hour's worth of brain cells watching that train wreck of a show just because I wasn't in the mood to watch something more enlightening on the History channel or CNN. It just sucks you in. Every time you turn on the television another politician is admitting he slept with an intern, a prostitue, a goat (obviously I'm making that last one up but at this point would we really be surprised!). And of course let's not forget the fall of Tiger Woods who was cast in the media as having the perfect life: a wife, 2 kids, #1 athlete in the world.....and secretly sleeping with 10 other women.
At this point nothing really seems shocking anymore, I guess that is the scary part. I hope (by some miracle) that by the time my kids are old enough to make their own decisions about who to look up to there will be more of those sweet stories on the evening news about some local farmer and his wife and an act of kindness they are doing for their neighbors whose house just burnt down...you know those stories that run at the end of the news for about 30 seconds to make you feel warm and fuzzy about America. I hope that's all we can find to watch on tv someday, until then I am going to try to save as many brain cells as possible and vow to never watch another episode of The Real Housewives...
Well said. Ever since Tiger Woods shocked us all I have been very suspicious of the celebrities I admire. It's kind of sad. I hope our /your children won't necessarily have idols, but instead be great young adults that other children will look up to!! You certainly have them headed in that direction!
ReplyDelete