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Whose Got 'Talent'?

I read a lot. I read blogs, articles, books, poetry, (labels on what ever happens to be near me). I read the news from current events to the latest in Hollywood happenings. I read the paper and every magazine that comes my way. I watch TV from time to time. Usually whatever my kids happen to have on when they’re in the same room with me. I’ve seen American Idol a fair few times. I usually watch the auditions in the beginning. I always end up wondering about one particular thing. How much ‘undiscovered’ talent is ‘out there’ just waiting and hoping for the chance to strut their stuff and become one of the discovered? How many actually will have that opportunity?

Chances are….not nearly enough will get that break which would bring attention to their talent. I dislike the nepotism of the ‘rich and famous’. How is it someone like Paris Hilton can become ‘famous’ (I use the term loosely where she is concerned) for attending parties when she contributes nothing but mediocre looks and talent? If you dummy her down she isn’t really that attractive. If she wore the clothes we wear and had the responsibilities we have and worked the way we do she wouldn’t be nearly as attractive as she is perceived to be.

That’s the key! It’s all in the perception.

If you or I had someone to groom us, polish us, pamper and pet us, we too would be famous for our mediocrity if someone placed us on the right red carpet at the right time.

How many famous people’s children/siblings/parents/et al become famous or well known simply by virtue of genetics? I’m not saying all are talentless. Kate Hudson got a break because her Mom is Goldie Hawn. Kate Hudson is pretty and talented and funny. Angelina Jolie became known because her Dad is John Voight. She’s also got a laundry list of looks and talent going for her. But in all fairness, would either of them (or the countless others like them) have gotten noticed if they didn’t have the coat tails of a famous parent to grab onto for their easy glide into the limelight? Or would they still be pounding the pavement and attending auditions in relative anonimity, talented but unrecognized?

Even American Idol, which is supposed to showcase talent only really’ does so if you’re perceived to be ‘the whole package’. You have to have talent, looks, charisma, and most importantly you must be marketable! If your teeth are crooked it negates your ‘talent’. If you’re overweight it’s a strike against your ‘marketability’. It isn’t really about pure unadulterated talent at all. It’s about which contestant fits the preconceived notion the powers that be have decreed as talent which in translation means ‘perfection’.

How many Idol contestants who really do have God given talent are culled and passed over because they’re not attractive enough? How many actors and actresses and writers and comedians are over looked because no one is looking at what they really have to offer?

I often wonder what we as a society are missing out on because we’re too superficial. There was a time when it mattered little how you looked and it mattered more what you had to contribute. Too often today we’re conditioned to judge people based on the wrapping without ever bothering to see the gift we’ve been given.

HINT:

The best things in life don’t come wrapped in designer paper with highend logo’s stamped across them in a monochromatic raised letter theme. Most days they don’t come wrapped at all. They pass by quietly without fanfare and it’s up to the recipient to see the treasure within.

This is one instance where ‘regifting’ is not only allowed but encouraged.

Pass these kinds of gifts on. Often!