I confess. My name is Sarita and I am addicted to American Idol. I need to join a 12 step program. Anyway, as I have been watching this season's shows, I have noticed that AI seems to be a microcosm of our society. First off, thousands of people stand in line for days to sing 2 lines of a song. Most of them are no good and some of them are outstanding. My favorite part of the season is the beginning shows when they show the awful, horrible ones. They are like car wrecks, you just can't look away. But, they will sing off key and off beat and not know the words. The judges will say that's a no and the kids will plead and beg and cry and promise that they can do it. The judges will say no again and maybe something harsher and then the kids will sometimes start telling them how Paula, Randy, and Simon are not talented and washed up.
I attribute this behavior to the trophy kid syndrome. We have raised a generation of kids that got awards for just participating. There were no winners and losers but everyone wins something, maybe a trophy or a medal. They aren't used to being told no you are not good enough or you aren't cut out for this kind of work. That is why they beg and cry and get outraged when they get into the "real world" and are competing against others who may be better at this particular job. They feel defeated and useless. No one likes to feel that, but in the real world, not American Idol, if your boss tells you that someone can do something better than you, you don't cuss your boss out and tell him that he sucks and isn't talented. You would be fired. I have used these times of failure to see how I might better myself and find where I might be better than somebody else.
The reality of life is that failure will happen. How we accept failure is what shows the mark of who we are. Do we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and try to be better? Or do we continue to lie there where we fell and feel sorry for ourselves and wait for someone to bring us some food and money? Do we never get up and try again? I think that the times that have been the hardest or the lowest have been the times when I have learned the most. The most about myself, the world, my friends and my God. I cherish those times and wouldn't trade them for all the record contracts in the whole world.
So, take what the Simon Cowells of the world tell you and use it to make yourself stronger and wiser. He usually is spot on!
