Values and standards

Yesterday I arrived at my school expecting another typical busy Monday but yesterday was anything but a typical Monday. When I walked onto the school yard I saw a van with three people standing in front of the school holding video cameras. People with cameras? This could only mean one thing... the MEDIA! Slightly caught off guard I thought, great my school once again failed to inform me of another important event. (This happens quite often) It turns out that a local broadcasting station was filming some sort of program for the local news at my school.

Anyway, a few hours later I was teaching my grade 6 class some expressions to describe the four different seasons. In the middle of class the camera crew walked in and started filming. I was going to continue with my lesson plan but my co-teacher encouraged me to get the guitar. I assume that he wanted me to put on a little show for the cameras. So reluctantly I went into the office and got the music and put on my performance face. It was difficult to ignore the cameras but I think we managed pretty well and on the plus side the kids were very well behaved! They're all such great actors. Normally they're bouncing off the walls but in front of a camera they're different people...

different people... different people...

It's interesting that when the camera is in front of us we like to fabricate things and become "different people". Many of us are subjected to sensationalism everyday without even realizing. I guess being exceptional rather than ordinary is better but distorting the truth is dishonest. I'm no Robin Williams and my class is definitely not the Dead Poets Society, but I refuse to pull a Susan Boyle just to look good. Does that make any sense????

Anyway, I'm sure most of us are familiar with the Susan Boyle sensation. Last week she wowed the world with her rendition of "I dreamed a dream" from Les Mis. But was it her voice that captured our attention or was it the ovations of the audience and the expressions of the judges? It's easy to get caught up in a show like that, especially if Simon Cowell is on it. He's built a reputation and now we trust every word he says. But the truth is we all fell for the production, not the singer; the packaging and not the content. Susan Boyle seems like a wonderful person but unfortunately she was subjected to media bias.

We see this in so many shapes and forms everyday. How many times have you told someone that you are feeling fine when you really aren't? How many times have you untagged yourself from a picture on facebook that is not satisfactory? Have you ever posted a bad profile picture before? We try to create an ideal image of ourselves in order to be appreciated and accepted by others. The hardest part is facing people's reaction when they see the truth. None of us like to hear the truth, we prefer to hide it and forget about it. Society and "the media" has played a huge role in this dilemma. We see celebrities everyday on TV and magazines. They look "perfect" and we all strive for this perfection. We are forced to compare ourselves and our friends to these "perfect" images. When celebrities are not at their best, i.e. Britney Spears, we love to tear them down. As a result we are afraid to expose our vulnerable side. We are afraid to show our true colours. But here's where I get confused.

Why are we slaves to a standard set by a greedy corporation? It doesn't make sense. They're values are completely out of whack.

What if the world didn't have these standards? Would we be less judgemental? Would there be less competition? Would we become lazy? Would humanity regress back to the stone age? We definitely need standards because they encourage us to better ourselves, however we must look at the values behind the standards before we cast any judgement. We can either choose to follow "the media" who value greed, narcissism and indulgence or we can choose to follow the values of kindness, respect, humility and compassion.

I hope that people start realizing what's going on here because I'm getting tired of having to put with all this nonsense. Things have to start changing soon or else I'm going to start complaining!!!! (See post below)