We All Should Care

Accept the call for a deeper purpose.

There are many reasons why I should write this post, and I know there are going to be an equal amount of people who agree and disagree with all that I’m about to say. In a basic statement: Children should not be objectified and put into beauty pageants so young.

I don’t have an issue with Miss America, Miss Universe and not even so much an issue with Miss Teen USA. All of the ladies that enter those contests are more than able to make up their mind and do as they choose, however, these children that are 3 and 4 years old that are getting shoved into beauty pageants do not have a say.

There are many shows on television devoted to following around pageant moms and their “trophy babies” during competition. Some of the children complain and cry about doing these events and some of them, I feel, have been so brainwashed by their parents that they actually believe at 4 years old that this is what they want to do. I am willing to bet that if you gave these young women the opportunity to play with a brand new Barbie doll or to get fitted for a new dress, they would choose the doll. The parents of these children are taking away their childhood.

These children enter several competitions a year and when you’re busy coming up with new baton routines for your showcase, when is there time to draw, play with sidewalk chalk, do cartwheels with your friends or learn to play with your imagination? There isn’t. So these children rush through their childhood. Not to mention, all the while they’re rushing they’re learning that in the world beauty is on the outside and that they will forever be judged by their looks. What an awful thing to imprint on a child at such an impressionable age. They are preparing them for an unrealistic world where everyone is beautiful and if you’re not? You lose.

Objectifying these small children and making them look far too adult for their innocent age. Caking on makeup on their delicate skin. Screaming at them to get them to stand still and smile. Stealing their childhood from them just so they can have a few trophies and crowns and grow up to be an anorexic teenager with self esteem issues… that’s not what we should teach our children. That’s not the kind of goals we should have for our daughters. Of course we want them to be beautiful, but we want them to know that beauty comes within, that everyone has something beautiful about them. We want them to be intelligent and creative. We should want them to have their own dreams and goals they want to achieve.

I leave you with a quote from Gia, a 1980’s supermodel. “I ain’t good at this. And even if you are good at this, what exactly are you good at?”

[[image courtesy of google.com/images]]

What is a star? What is fame really? A self-indulgent lifestyle propelled by the media hungry America? No, I shouldn’t only blame America… fueled by the celebrity starved world.

I used to want to be a “star”, whatever that means. I was actually so close that I tasted it. It tasted like blood, that bitter taste that makes you thirsty for ice-cold water when it hits your tongue. I quickly backed away and have since only glanced backward once or twice. I don’t regret that I left my record label to basically be forced to start back from the beginning because I was being made into a product. I was told that I was no longer a human, I was a machine. I was told when to be where and how to be when I got there. I was told that I couldn’t cut my hair, that I had to be platinum blond and that anything I should have to say, I should say it in verse and with super catchy lyrics surrounding it. I was told that I could no longer be “Jodie” and that I was now “Jodie Platz” a product that was molded around my name and I had absolutely no opinion whatsoever into what went into this product that was for sale.

So then why do people crave fame? What is it that makes everyone want to be on the cover of the magazines? Don’t they see Robert Pattinson and how his anxiety about the entire situation is tearing him apart? Or maybe they don’t see the downward spiral that the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have been through? Why do they still want it after everything they see?

People will do anything for fame and money. People would go and be on a television show, objectifying themselves even if they didn’t get paid. I suppose there’s always the chance that if they are on the Real World or even maybe Jerry Springer that someone, somewhere will discover them and they’ll be the next big thing. However, how often does that really happen? Now you’ve gone on national television and have humiliated yourself in front of your friends and family for them to forever replay your threesome in the hot tub or your temper-tantrum on YouTube and TiVo. I don’t know about you, but my family already has enough reasons to laugh at me, I don’t need to hand them any more.

They do it for attention of course, and we happily oblige and give them the attention they want. We put these stars on pedestals so high that they’re untouchable to us. We look at them and see the perfection that surrounds their lives. The iced out watches, the Louis Vuitton luggage, the free clothes, limousines and cocktails around the clock… we see that and we want it, but it’s not real. The price of those things is too high. Nothing is really free to them because they sold themselves to be a machine. Inside those limo’s with the cocktails they’re sad inside. They’re drowning their sorrows in their champagne and telling themselves they should be grateful and thankful because they were dreaming of this since they were twelve years old. Just remember one simple rule of thumb; the higher the pedestal the harder they fall.

[[image courtesy of google.com/images]]

I chose Spencer’s “It Wouldn’t Be So Bad”, poem for the inspiration for this post today,for several reasons.
You can see it in it’s entirety here: It Wouldn’t Be So Bad
A huge part of it, is that it touched someone very close to me, and I absolutely love that I was able to introduce her to Spencer.
Jode Platz ia a musician herself, and she loves music to the point of distraction, so she really relates to this piece in a personal way.
I think another part of it, is that I adore music myself, there have been times, when I wasn’t hiding in a book, I was hiding in music. (Strictly on a listening level, unless you’re referring to my ability to dance around the house, singing into my hairbrush, or singing loudly along with the radio).
So, I too, can relate on a smaller scale. I tend to also apply the mentality to my passions, if I were to slip away while writing or reading, perhaps that would be a smooth transition for me, because it is such a big part of who I am.
If you’d like to know more about Spencer, please visit here: Spencer Bell Memorial, and/or, if you’d like to make a donation to the Adrenal Cancer Research fund, please go here: DONATE! Every contribution is deeply appreciated.

[[image courtesy of google.com/images]]

I was reading quotes today, admittedly one of my favorite things to do, because I’m a cool dork like that, and I happened upon a quote that my best friend, and I thought would fit Spencer Bell perfectly:

He had an artists instinct,and by some token, you also have to be an attentive lover of sorts, to your works of art for them to become masterpieces. To breathe life into anything, there has to be time, affection, and heart.
Each piece of art, is a product of something that has been etched on one’s soul. You have but to read Spencer’s words to know that to be true of him as well.
If you’d like to experience his works for yourself, then please visit his Legacy site here: The Music Lives On and just as importantly, if you’d like to make a contribution for research of Adrenal Cancer, please go here: DONATE. Every little bit helps, and is sincerely appreciated.

[[Art courtesy of ]]

I’ve been writing about Spencer Bell daily, since I “met” him, and today is no exception.
Spencer has really caused a renewal of the spark that I had for writing.
He has been an amazing inspiration, and I hope that if he were with us, it would bring a smile to his face to know that.
So, in keeping with that spirit, I’ll post a piece of my prose, and dedicate it to Spencer;an incredible writer, and a very talented young man.

If you’d like to read about Spencer, see his work, see videos, listen to his music, please go here:The Music Lives On And just as importantly, if you’d like to make a donation to help fund the research about the disease that took him from this world, please visit here: DONATE Every contribution is sincerely appreciated.

Someone that I absolutely adore, knows how much I love Spencer Bell, and so she surprised me with something very touching.
It brought tears to my eyes, and melted my heart. Now, it resides on my desktop as my background, and my phone as well. (Replacing Jackson Rathbone, no less *laugh*)
You can see it below:

If you would like to have one just like it, either email me here, or go to her blog site JODIE PLATZ and comment her, letting her know.

Thank you again JoJo, it is amazing, and I love it.

If you’d like to know more about Spencer Bell, see his work, then please go here: THE MUSIC LIVES ON, and if you’d like to donate to the research of Adrenal Cancer, then please, go here: DONATE. Every contribution is appreciated, together, we CAN make a difference.

[[Image/Background provided, and created by: Jodie Platz]]