Many of you are aware of the media. We see it every where we turn. Televisions, websites, radio, newspapers, all filled with the news surrounding our towns, cities, metro areas and even the nation. These articles and reports are filled with news of Government Fall-outs, local police chases and even marriage license purchases. And the television is a great way to convey opinions on those articles. We seen it in Rodney King's case in Los Angeles, we seen it with the fleeing white bronco and O.J. Simpson. And if you've watched HLN in the last 40 days, you've seen nonstop media coverage of the Casey Anthony Trial. Commercials ranged in length and content and mostly advertised future news coverages.
But something was 'off' with these commercials. They advertised how grand America is. How you can go to the store, purchase a swiffer sweeper, Bush's Baked Beans or even a new cell phone. And they showed starving children in other countries who need our help. Playing on the viewers emotions, promising a photo of a child you can sponsor and for only pennies a day, make that child's life improve significantly. Immediately following this emotional vibe, you hear Sarah McLaughlin singing Angel as pictures fill your brain of animals being mistreated, beaten, starved, burned, deprived of medical attention and looking miserable locked behind cages.
And the whole time I watched the television and for the years before, it never dawned on me, the one thing you never see. American Children, starving, neglected, beaten, burned, deprived of medical attention and looking miserable behind their eyes. You never see it. I am nearly 32 years old. I've never seen a commercial displaying the truth behind American Poverty. I've never seen a person, famous or otherwise, stand in front of a camera and ask someone to help our children. I've never seen a telethon to raise money for America's starving, abused and neglected children. Have you?
The sad fact is, America, in all it's glory, is still putting on a fake face for other countries. See, back during the 1800's when America was young, we encouraged people to break away from England, Ireland, and other countries to come 'live the American Dream'. Bring your families, your children, your futures and set them on American soil so they may truly be free. And that is the biggest lie yet! From the times of textile workers, children were enslaved by the ideology that to live free, you must die hard. But that isn't true. Children shouldn't have to worry about rent or bills or putting food on the table. But like so many who don't realize it, they worry about it every day. What kind of a free childhood is that? What kind of dream is that? More like a nightmare, and one that reoccurs every night for the missing, the exploited, the neglected and abused.
Tolstoy once said, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." And how true this is. Until we can change ourselves, our perception, our way of thinking, our way of demanding change, we must first make the change in our selves. We must change how we see it, how we think about it and how we can be the change that starts it all. Without change, your have no life. The only thing constant is change. Hanging on to the past is the sin of it all.
In closing, I hope this finds you at a moment in your life where you want that change to happen. Let it not be out of despite or fear that you change, but rather, let it be about living. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Until tomorrow,
LaVonda
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