Role Models

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

So I'm listening to the radio, and a young woman who is Miss Nebraska USA (I think) is running for Miss USA soon here, and the morning radio hosts are interviewing her about her experiences.  One of the hosts asks her about how she deals with the swimsuit portion of the competition, and what advice she has for others who have problems being in a swimsuit in front of just themselves.

The young woman's answer wasn't very helpful, and what's worse, it sounded like she hadn't even thought about what she might say to that question.  She just said, "You have to be comfortable in your own skin.  People are judging me on my physical appearance, so I have to be comfortable in my own skin."  I'm paraphrasing a little, but that is the gist of it.

Now, that's not a terrible answer, but like I said, it's definitely not all that helpful.  What if someone isn't comfortable in their own skin - what do they do then?  That's the question she didn't answer.  I'm going to take my own moment of judgement here, and guess that this isn't something she hasn't really had to deal with an awful lot. I could be wrong - just about everyone has their own insecurities.   But obviously if she's competing at this level, she's got some sort of confidence about her physical appearance, and knows that she is beautiful enough to do this sort of thing. Doesn't mean she doesn't have issues with her body, but she's had enough positive reinforcement to "be comfortable in her own skin."

So as a role model, which is what she is in this position, I really hope she takes some more time to figure out how to be a positive role model considering how she became one in the first place.  The other thing she mentioned that stuck out to me was the fact that this particular competition doesn't have a talent portion.  When asked what her talent was, she said, "I can't sing - I don't know what I would do."  If she thinks her only talent or sellable aspect for these competitions is being beautiful, I feel really bad for her.  She's been doing this for a while I'd imagine, and I think she would have had to showcase some talent before, or at least think about what it would be.  And she doesn't think she has any talents?  That's really sad.  She's been relying on one part of who she is to be successful; her looks.

Everyone has talents, things they're good at, things that make them totally awesome, that have nothing to do with what's on the outside.  I hope she takes some time to do some soul searching and figure out what that thing is, and even if it's not traditionally something you'd see showcased in a beauty pageant, that she feels proud enough of what it is that she goes ahead and does it anyway.  I remember there was some Miss America contestant recently who was really good with bow-and-arrows, or skeet shooting, or something like that, and while they didn't allow her to choose that for the competition, that's the talent she presented to them originally.

The one thing she did say that made me happy (and surprised honestly) was that she doesn't worry about how much she eats.  At least, she understands that to be at the top of her game, she needs to have sleep, and she needs to eat - to have the proper energy to really give it her all.  I was glad to hear she seems to have a healthy outlook on how she eats.

But man, as a role model, again, I hope she takes some time to think about those things that aren't beauty related so she has some wise words for the girls looking up to her.  It's a tough world out there, and if all you can show to people looking to you for advice or how to be is that physical beauty is the most important thing, there's something you're missing.  Beauty goes so much deeper than that.