Calling out the critics

I’m behind on the news, I know.  I actually heard about these things when they happened, but none seemed entirely blog-worthy on their own, so instead I’m combining into one big gripey post.  So with no further ado, I present news that has ticked me off in recent weeks.

-Did you hear about Salma Hayek breastfeeding another child?  Apparantly this was a huge controversy.  I really cannot fathom why, though.  It’s not as if she was baby swapping in Atlanta, just for kicks.  She was in a third world country, holding a starving baby whose mother had no way to feed him.  She has milk right there and available.  What should she have done, exactly?  What would her critics have done?  “Sorry lady, I hate that your baby is starving and could die of hunger, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to give your child the nourishment he needs to survive, so you’ll just have to chance it.  Best of luck to you.”  Come on people!  This is exactly what our bodies were created to do, and if you would be in her position and choose not to help that baby, then shame on you.  This isn’t controversial, it’s compassion.  Something we could use a little more of in our world.

-Speaking of compassion, why doesn’t anyone have any for Bristol Palin?  I’m sure you’ve heard that she and Levi Johnston broke up recently.  This announcement seems to delight a number of people.  Why is that?  I have heard many dripping-with-sarcasm comments expressing surprise at this outcome.  Am I surprised?  No, I’m not.  The odds were not in their favor.  But I don’t get any satisfaction from it. 

This is a baby who will grow up in a broken home, people.  Does that not sadden you?  Critics and comedians, what is your point here?  This situation has nothing to do with politics and nothing to do with the governor, but disagreeing with her political stance has either clouded your judgement tremendously, or you are a bunch of nasty, heartless people.  I don’t know which the case is, you tell me.  All I know is that we have another set of teenage parents with a very long and difficult road in front of them, and now they don’t even have each other to cling to for support.  We have a baby who will not grow up with the benefit of two parents under the same roof.  And we have a lifetime of challenges and struggles facing them all. 

I don’t know what that path is like.  I do know that it isn’t easy, and would be even more difficult with the media scrutiny they are under.  Instead of tearing them down (it seems they are getting enough of that already), I’ve been lifting them up in my prayers.  It would be nice if you’d consider doing the same. 

-Jon & Kate Gosselin are going through a difficult time in their marriage.  And somehow people are happy about this.  Again, is it surprising?  No.  The strain of 8 children and a reality tv show must be tremendous.  Add to that their polar opposite personalities, and I can certainly understand them having some problems right now.  What I can’t understand is the public reaction to that. 

Whatever happened to the sanctity of marriage?  Is that not something worth fighting to save?  When did our lifelong promises to stay together, for better or worse, become so disposable?

If this couple is struggling then I am sad for them.  I hope they will work it out, for themselves and for those 8 little children.  They have a lot on the line, and they certainly don’t need public opinion making their lives even more difficult.  Yes, I realize that they put themselves out there because of their show, a move that they get much criticism for.  But I wonder exactly how many people would be presented with an offer for fame and fortune and say no thanks.  My guess? – not nearly as many who like to boast that they would.  And I sincerely doubt that when they agreed to do the show, they realized fully what they were signing up for.  An error in judgement?  Perhaps.  But since we’re all guilty of those, perhaps we’d be best served by remembering our own faults and shutting our mouths a little more.

I think a lot of this has to do with what my friend Sondra calls macro-micro situations.  People feel perfectly at ease belittling and mocking celebrities or those in the limelight, and the anonymity of the world wide web has unfortunately made that worse.  What one wouldn’t dream of saying to their next door neighbor, they blurt out easily about a public figure.  In the macro picture, apparently we have no shame.

I wonder if the people who say these things have children.  Would they allow their children to say such nasty things about their classmates at school?  Or would they tell those kids that kindness is important, and there is a time and a place to keep your mouth shut and your thoughts to yourself?  We as a society are failing to keep our mouths shut a lot these days, and I’m bothered by that.