When I was thinking of the first rant to write for this site, I hardly thought I'd be writing about a specific person. When the inspiration arises, however, I always go with it. I may have been assuming a bit on this one, but when it comes to interpretation, that seems to happen a lot anyway.
October 22, 2005
When I was little, I admired Madonna. I wasn't too big on the sex-apeal of some of her stuff. I was more into the messages behind what she was singing. Sometimes she did things just to see how far she could push society. She'd go beyond the norm to find just how closed-mided our culture could be. Sometimes, though, it was more than that. There were things she felt strongly about. Things that she saw society turning a blind eye to or supporting without ever understanding. So she'd use her music and symbolisms in videos to share her thoughts. Among these: KKK equals bad and does nothing but divide us based on useless prejudices. Racist attitudes and behaviours are dangerous and cause unnecessary pain. Sexist attitudes or neglecting and/or treating someone based on their gender only causes problems for society and keeps people from breaking free from useless stereotypes. Discimination in all its forms is dangerous and useless. Being true to yourself and following your dreams is what life is all about. I admired her the most because she practiced what she preached and what she preached was true human nature that others threw out the window long ago for something violent, dangerous, or just plain ignorant.
Back when I was younger, I was never the fanatic type and didn't have a sole "hero." Looking back, if I were to pick on person who was most influencial and whose impact can still be evident in my thoughts and actions, I suppose that person would be Madonna. Today, I have very many people I admire both in history and more modern. Some were politicians, presidents, kings, queens, artists, writers, muscians, teachers, and a whole ton of other professions and lifestyles. Some of my more modern influecnes are people that the mainstream have seen as "evil," corrupt, immoral, and so on, but once you do your own reasearch and find that the media that most people base their opinions on not only didn't get their stories straight, but in some cases reported the complete opposite, you see just what sort of intelligence you miss out on. Of my current influence, Madonna is definately the one that goes back the furthest.
When she had her first child, it was obvious her world view was changing. She was becoming more spiritual and growing up in her own way. After her second, I thought she had changed for the worst. Before, she was always herself and never did things just because everyone else was. But when she had her son, she seemed to be copy-catting all the pop stars. Everything she did just seemed like something everyone else was doing fifteen times over already. She went from being an individual to being a sheep.
The other night, I caught her special on MTV. I haven't watched that channel in years, but flipping by my attention was caught. Here was an idol from my childhood. Couldn't hurt to see what she was up to lately. I've never met this woman. Never spent time with her. I know her only through her music, videos, TV appearances, and roles in movies. She has not been a key influencial person in my life for years. Yet somehow we've managed to to be growing in the same direction. Her life goals are different from mine. Her outlook on some things is different from mine. But our political views are the same. We share a sense of hope and compassion for our country that we both have noticed is in a pretty bad political situation as far as the people acting like sheep and letting government do as it pleases. We live two totatlly different lifestyles. She's done things I'll never do and have disagreed with. If she knew anything about me, she'd probably say the same of myself. But still, we have this in common: We still believe in the American Dream. We still believe in the dream this country's forefathers had. We still have hope that a Republic backed by the Constitution can be our foundation so that we can all live free to be ourselves. We still have faith in America.
There are other things I learnd that she and I had in common that night. Some of our ideas about marriage and soul mates. Ideas about growth. Our insecurities even when we are confident. But it was the political views and dreams that were significant. Where I've been losing hope that millions of people are beoming lost all because they do not care, and when they do they do not take action against what they don't want. They've become lazy. But here is a person that isn't. Here is someone influencial and is heard by millions of people. She entertains for others' enjoyment. At the same time, she gets the message through. What do you do when your voice is already being heard? You take it a step further and encourage others to raise their voices.
As I've mentioned, I have many people that I admire, many of whom I've never met. Madonna is an important one for me, though. She was there when I was young. Even when she was not influencing me, we managed to move in similar directions thought-wise. Now that I've noticed that, she's become something of a symbol of hope for me. At this point, she isn't an influence. We already share so much of our thoughts as far as morals, ethics, and politics. She's something of an idol all over again. Renewed hope that others like ourselves will speak up. Hope that the people of this country will wake up. We'll restore the system of checks and balances so that there really is balance. We'll return the government to a republic where it isn't just majority rule (Democracy) but also provide the minorities' rights. The Constitution will be the foundation of Justice, Equality, and Freedom, not just some paper to be used or dicarded depending upon the choice of whoever has the most power politically. We will all have our rights and chances to reach for our dreams. Our American Dreams. If we don't fight for it, we'll lose all our forefathers faught for, worked for, set in place and secured. But if we just raise our voices, then there's still hope.
