This morning the finalists of our national beauty pageant were announced, all beautiful young women with sparkling eyes and wide open smiles. Three specifically jumped out for me, one looking the most natural, one looking a little more exotic and poised and one who simply has a very pretty, honest looking face and thus looked the friendliest.
But that is just it...is she actually friendly? Are the other two actually poised and natural respectively? Or will we find out later that the friendly looking one is a bit of a snob, the poised one a loudmouth and the natural one has had a boob job? I'm not claiming that any of these girls are not who and what they claim, but we have seen that the pageant world, regardless of the country it's held in is often fraught with tension, high in emotion and has many closets containing many skeletons, the most recent local scandal of course being the winner being stripped of our title due to it being discovered that she was indeed married, and it that regard even she wasn't alone. Drinking underage and doing drugs have come to light for another queen, although she was lucky enough to have been given a second chance and retain her title.
Regardless of any of the above, many girls still enter pageants with big dreams of being the next Miss World or Miss Universe, followed by lucrative modeling and acting careers, fame, money and glory. They disregard the critics who yell that pageants are misogynistic. They have dreams and often feel that winning a pageant can set them on the right path, as has happened with many before. They've seen other women run successful businesses after getting their foot in the door thanks to winning pageants. And sometimes, their dreams do come true. On the flip side, pageants can be a door to ruin.
So what am I saying? What I'm saying is that I've known a few queens in my life. Some have egos so big I find it miraculous that they can enter a room through a normal door. Others are so humble and enjoy the ride while still having their own plans that they made years before entering the pageant. I know of one or two who still wishes to be regarded as a queen, years after building a life away from a stage and evening gowns. I know of others who never took it seriously to begin with and are happier than most. And I know of a couple who did follow the modeling/acting/business/fame and glory route and are not doing too shabbily. What is most honest though is that the girl you see on stage, and on the catwalk, and the girl you run into the next day as she's buying catfood at the local grocery store essentially is the same girl. Your perception of her however may be a WHOLLY different story.
At the end of the day - to all the pretty ladies, good luck, and have fun.
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