I recently did a google search on the #1 kids toy and one of the first to come up was one of the Bratz dolls. I went and visited the Bratz website and realized that I found lot of today’s toys to be disgusting. The Bratz website includes a link to a social networking area for kids called BeBratz. This is a website for kids who have just bought a Bratz doll, similar to the Webkins epidemic. The Bratz dolls are all affiliated with fashion, and if you read each dolls biography, you'll see that some of these fictitious girls wish to become fashion designers or models for fashion companies. On the BeBratz website, I have found that every time you log out of the website, it gives you their log-out message including their log-off message "Take care, keep it real, and above all else, be beautiful!" This leaves one to wonder that maybe, they're trying to say that fashion and being beautiful have something to do with each other. Little girls are buying these dolls and dressing like them, in efforts to become "beautiful." Is that what we are teaching our kids when we get them a toy? Now, I see that it is one thing for a kid to have a role model, but it is just sickening that they are trying to force upon our youth of the nation that they have to dress a certain way or act in a certain way to be considered beautiful.
Bratz's leading competitor Barbie, is another one of these dolls that alter our perception. The Barbie doll has always been one of the most liked dolls around the U.S., not to mention the world. But these dolls put out a perception that all people have to look a certain way in order to fit in. Why should someone have to alter the way that they look to be cool?
This is not an isolated incident. Toys are not the only things that have a bead effect on our youth. Hello! Have you ever heard of Disney Channel!?! You know, that thing that your children watch everyday to enjoy their favorite shows. Sure, you could argue that some of these shows are OK, but they should all be OK.
If you live with a girl between the ages of 4 and 17 or are in the range of 5 miles of one then you probably have heard of the Hannah Montana epidemic. Have you ever noticed how she is TWO PEOPLE! One the one hand, she is Miley Stewart, a lame girl at her school with a few friends. And then she changes who she is to become Hannah Montana, a superstar girl with billions of friends and fans. This just further pushes the facade that we have to be rich, famous, or extremely talented to have many friends.
We need to teach our children some good, classic family values. What happened to the days when we were appreciated for being ourselves, and didn’t have to be materialistic, snotty, little brats (no pun intended) just to be friendly? I think that a large portion of this is partly a family’s problem, and maybe an education problem. Oprah Winfrey once said about the American education system, “I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. ... If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod, sneakers, or some money. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”
We need to have an appreciation for what we have, not for what we want. In the Sheryl Crow song, “Soak Up the Sun,” she writes, “It's not having what you want, It's wanting what you've got” We need to take what we have and use it for a grater good. I’ve got an idea, instead of buying more stuff, why don’t we use what we have? For the past 6 weeks, I have worn a different every day of the week without repeating all 6 weeks. I have worn 42 different shirts in the past week, and I have more to go. I didn’t realize how much I had until I started my anti-poverty protest. Given these are shirts I have accumulated over the past 4 or 5 years, however, it doesn’t change that fact of the matter that I have a lot more materially than I thought. With the exception of a class t-shirt, I have not bought any new clothes in the past 3 months, and I have bought any more than 3 items in the past 9 months. If I can do this materialistically, who’s to say that I don’t discredit myself by not owning up to myself? How do I know I cannot do something, maybe I am just not trying hard enough?
Matt Thiessen, lead singer of Relient K, once wrote, ”I just want to get mugged at knife point, to get cut enough to wake me up, cause I know that I don't want to die, sitting around watching my life go by, and what we take from this is what we'll get and we haven't quite figured it out just yet, because all of us are all too stuck, strapped to a chair watching our lives blow up”. I think that it’s time. We need to wake up. Maybe you don’t understand. WE NEED TO WAKE UP! This is our time, this is our planet, and these are our bodies! We need to use what we have now to better us for the future. We often pass the blame to other people. It is nobody else’s problem. We control what we do. “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”(Orwell’s 1984) We need to start taking responsibility for our own actions.
In conclusion, all I really have to say is this:
- Love people for the way they are, and mean it.
- All you need is, what you want is, all you need is love. Everyday-Dave Matthews
- Appreciate what you have, because you don’t deserve it, but you do have it.
- It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got. -Sheryl Crow
- Take responsibility for your actions. We control what we do, and ultimately, that’s eternal.
- He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future. -Winston Smith, Orwell’s 1984
Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I do not know who you are. I do not know where you are, or what you are like, but I do know this. I know 2 people off the top of my head that love you. I love you. I wish the best for you. I really do. The other is God. God loves you. He loves you just the way you are and wouldn’t have it any other way. He loves you so much, that he sent his only son to die for you. He suffered the same pain as his son did. He did this for everyone in the world. The truth is…He would have done it even if it was only you. That’s how much He loves you. May God bless you in all that you do.
-Zane
"I am Zane and I am.......concerned."
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