I’m not the one to start moaning about privacy, not only do I have nothing major to hide (except maybe two or three things), but my life is so uneventful that nobody really cares. Although I must commend the society of having ideals and hopes, at times the pressure that media, businesses and basically the society in general puts on an individual is just too much.
Recently, Micheal Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, and as I have come to understand a role model for young Americans, has been caught on camera holding a marijuana pipe. Whether he was using it remains debatable, although he has apologized. Apologized for what? If all the people who ever smoked marijuana had to apologize, the word ’sorry’ would suffer higher inflation that Zimbabwe (no really: DOWN with Mugabe). OK, if Mr Phelps said: ” So what?”, I would consider him way cooler.
This is not about marijuana or sportsmanship. This is about people having control of their lives. Which these people certainly don’t. Like Miley Cyrus, the Hannah Montana chick, who’s apologized twice, once for not wearing a seatbelt in car during her show, and once for those bare-ish pictures. Again, this is a person who is controlled by Disney (corporation, I like to add) and whose sole purpose is to sell stuff. And since no parent will buy their children stuff (really there is no nicer word for it) endorsed by a ‘bad’ role model, these people must do as they are told by their sponsors.
I understand these individuals have a living to make, and I think it’s good when they realize their mistakes, but you can never know whether they really are sorry. If Mr Phelps is really sorry and regrets this act, he should have gone quietly and done X hours of public service. I think that any idol, be it a pop star, movie star, sports star, politician, etc. has something skeletons in the closet. It’s just the question of how one deals with it. Barack Obama has admitted doing marijuana and other drugs and said it was his greatest failure. That’s learning from your mistake. It’s much more honest than someone saying: I’m sorry, after getting a slap on the wrist from your producers. He has nothing to be sorry about, as long as nobody got hurt and he himself learn a valuable lesson that has enabled him to become who he is. Obama’s drug abuse doesn’t make him any less role model, and doesn’t take away any of his accomplishments (well, he’s just president for not even a month, but you get the point). Neither does Phelps’s alleged drug abuse take away from his accomplishments.
Be defiant for as long as you can. But don’t be defiant for the sake of being defiant, do it because you believe that people should have control over their lives. You might not get to be a role model, but who can be a role model these days. I suppose the only full proof role model is the Virgin Mary. One, she gave birth to the son of God even though it implied her life would be threatened, two: it’s been far tto long for anyone to dig up any dirt on her. Although some might claim that getting pregnant without being properly married is not being a good role model. And on the circle goes.
Peter
