Since I used Oprah in the title of this blog, I feel I should give a shout out to her 25th season in my first blog. I have to say that some of the best interviews I have ever seen on television have been in the last year of the Oprah Winfrey show. From the opinion changing interview with GW to the hysterical Debbie Reynolds to the insanity of Nadya Suleman, I have found myself captivated by Oprah's final season.
My grandma, the wife of a tobacco farmer, mother of 5, school teacher and avid church goer used to say to me that even when we disagreed with our parents it was important that we disagree with respect, afterall they were our parents. She believed the same of our president. President George W. Bush was certainly a man that I disagreed with. But he was just that. A man. A huMAN. And that was never more clear than in the interview with Oprah. I won't get into his politcs here, well not now anyway, but I will say after watching this interview, seeing him sitting with his mom and dad, and hearing him talk openly and what I believe honestly about his time as president and his life as it is now, I believe I would like the man.
Debbie Reynolds had me laughing from the moment she came on the show to the moment it ended. When this classy, elegant movie star raised her thumb and finger and held them close together to indicate her late ex-husband's penis size I nearly fell out out of my chair in hysterics. It was trully an hour of fun.
But of all the interviews this season, to me, this is the "talk" to talk about. Oprah's interview with Nadya Suleman was so raw and profound that I believe everyone needs to watch it and watch it again and again until what was said on that show sinks in. Suze Orman, brought in by Oprah to analyze Nadya's financial situation, exposes the life of the octomom and bullies the truth from her about the babies she never should have had. However, as fascinating a story as Nadya's life seemed, it became a platform for a much larger statement to be made. A statement that touches on the core of what I feel to be the greatest problem in the world today. Orman, after she and Oprah had forced the hand of Suleman and exposed the insanity of her choice, turned the finger on an audience that sat around the world watching in judgement of this extreme situation.
Knowing she had 6 children already that she could not afford, Nadya, fulfilling selfish needs, chose to bring not one but 8 more babies into her life. The majority of people I have heard talk about this story have said she should be at minimum, locked up, charged with child abuse and neglect. While pointing out the extremity of this situation, Suze Orman turned to the audience and said what noone wants to hear. While Nadya seems like a monster for her choices if you have chosen to bring 14 children or one child that you could not afford into this world you are just as guilty and just as wrong. I would say there are too many babies born in this world period. But for sure, there are too many babies born into this world in poverty. With unemployment rates sky rocketing around the world and natural resources diminishing at rapid rates, every person that brings a child into this world without the financial, material, and emotional abilities to provide for that child should be held accountable. Things happen to change a situation and that is not what I am talking about here. What Suze Orman was talking about and what I am talking about here is the concious decision, knowing that you cannot afford your life as it is or knowing you are barely getting by and choosing to bring a child into this world without the ability to provide BEYOND the basic needs for that child is WRONG. IT IS CRIMINALLY WRONG. IT IS MORALLY WRONG. IT IS INHUMANE.
First and foremost I believe in personal responsibility. Nothing is black and white and there are always exceptions. That said...PEOPLE MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHOICES. PARENTS NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN before they are conceived to the day they can stand on their own and provide for themselves (which is not necessarily 18 because the law says that is when you become an adult.)
I believe in forced abortions for pregnant teenagers and I believe in forced sterilization. I do not believe in rewarding unfit parents with tax breaks and special benefits. There...I said it. My mind is open. Change it if you can. I am hear to listen. My mind is not closed...that is just where I stand today. I am not saying I am smarter than Oprah or that I am smarter than you.
