Don't Give in to the Hype

Hype is totally overrated. Like MJ coming back as a Wizard, Y2K, or global warming, it leaves you like a flat tire on the side of the road. And even though you know how to put the spare on, the thought of actually doing it deflates you even more, if that were possible.

What I mean is this...living in Florida, and maybe it's like this everywhere, I pass by about 20 billboards a day telling me - a la, telling everyone - that breast enhancement, liposuction, and cosmetic surgery are keys to happiness. In an hour TV show I'll sit through three Viagra-esque commercials, one penile enlargement ad, and countless half-naked body spots directed at both consciously and subliminally convincing me that if I don't look like Brad Pitt I ought to at least spend my life savings trying.

Don't get me wrong, I have a little man-crush on the guy, but I'm not about to go out and get hair implants just because some marketing windbag on the 33th floor somewhere has his own insecurities about the teasing he endured as a 4th grade schoolboy.

And yet there's this sense of entitlement we have that says we should be our own person, follow our dreams, don't worry about what people think. It sounds healthy but it's veneered over with a false sense of self because we fail to recognize that it's really not okay to be 5'2" and weigh two and a quarter, nor is it okay to go get lipo to take away the symptom without addressing the root problem.

I guess what I'm advocating is that if you really want to swim against the current, if you really want to "be your own person," then start by recognizing the illegitimacy of both extremes. God has not created us to be who we're not, but he hasn't created us to live a lie either. We've been exactly fashioned in imperfection, and it's only by acknowledging our shortcomings that we can see our strengths, thus enabling us to reject the hype of either spectrum's end.