Have you ever watched two teams of seven strangers, battling for cash while traveling the country in RVs that they trade and makeover as America votes on their future spouses while they eat an assortment of cow innards and thought to yourself, “How did this show make it on the air?”
Well, the other day I was flipping through the channels when a beauty pageant came on. The competition had been narrowed down and the top five contestants were about to answer that last, big question. You know the one… “If you had $1 million, what would you do?”
Their answers will simply amaze you. The first contestant decides she would end world hunger. The next says she would cure cancer. And this continued until finally the last contestant gave her response. “World Peace!”
World Peace? Does that even answer the question? I don’t think so.
Now, curing cancer is a noble goal, but don’t you think that if it only cost $1 million that we would have the cure by now? Oh, and as for ending world hunger… if you ask me, some of those contestants should start with themselves!
Now, if I had $1 million, I would do the reasonable thing. I’d put it towards my tuition, fix up the Honda, go on a shopping spree, buy a pig and go backpacking through Eastern Europe. And that’s the truth.
Honestly, if you had $1 million, what would you do? Get Real!
Society is turning into one big beauty pageant. We are surrounded by false images and we are not being true to ourselves. Everyone is so busy trying to be someone who they aren’t that they never stop to see exactly who they are; and that is a problem. And I include myself in that.
If I told you that I never wished to be someone else or to have his fame and her looks… that would be a lie. But I’m tired of the lies. It’s time to resolve the issue of deception in society, it’s time to be happy with who we are, and it’s time to get real!
False images are imbedded in our everyday lives. Whether it is in the media or in our schools, we are in a world full of imitation.
It is this artificial world that is eluding us all and feeding our problem. The search for reality in today’s society is like looking for an authentic body part on Michael Jackson. I’m not saying that it doesn’t exist; it’s just really hard to find.
And the introduction of reality TV hasn’t made the search any easier. Shows such as MTV’s “The Real World,” which debuted in 1991, have become the hot new trend, sweeping across America. But don’t let the name fool you. Reality TV is anything but real.
If you think about it, the phrase “Reality TV ” is an oxymoron. The term implies that what we see on TV is real, which is not always the case. It’s TV people- it’s called editing, think about it.
We need to start being honest with ourselves. Let’s take the lead of Abraham Lincoln who was known for being an honest man. Upon being asked the question, “How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?” Lincoln replied, “Four. Calling the tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
The truth is, we can close our eyes to reality, but that doesn’t change the fact that it still exists. And much like the truth still exists even though people lie, reality is still obtainable in the midst of the unreal.
Being fake is a problem consuming our lives and we need to correct it. Every time we present ourselves in a false manner, we get closer to becoming someone who we are not.
So how do we fix this problem? Simple, we start by being ourselves.
We shouldn’t compromise our individuality by conforming and molding into an image. We should create our own mold.
We all have the potential to be someone great, someone completely different than everyone else. But until we stop following the norm and take that first frightening step towards finding ourselves, we’ll never know what lies ahead for us.
If we fail to acknowledge reality we cannot progress.
So when we find ourselves in a world where false images are at an all-time high, and conformity is acceptable, and being an individual is frowned upon… it’s time for something to be done.
Find yourself, be true to who you are, and get real!
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Send comments to Taylor at [email protected].