Tara and her Tarnished Tiara

Boy, Miss USA, Tara Conner is causing a lot of outrage for someone so young, isn’t she? Yes, yes, yes…she messed up BIG TIME.  No… It’s worse than that - she broke the law. Cocaine (which she is said to have tested positive for) is illegal, underage drinking is illegal - so she not only has the morals of a street dog, she’s a law breaker, as well. Personally, I think it should have cost her the crown.

But, before we start asking her to stand still while we all pelt her with gravel, I think we’d be better off if we looked at the bigger picture.  Instead of trying to place a scarlett letter on her sash, maybe we should finally start addressing the problems that she represents.

I don’t think she does represent the typical young woman in America (thank God), and I don’t think she should keep the title that gives her that honor. But I do think she represents a very real problem.

We live in a time when promiscuity, drinking, and even drugs, are all around us.  I positively, absolutely, 100 percent admire any young person who can stand up to peer pressure these days.  My hat’s off to them and if I had the means, I’d buy them all something nice and shiny. 

Remember years ago when everyone laughed at Tipper Gore? Have you heard the lyrics your kids know by heart?  If you have the stomach for it, go to Google, enter a song’s title + lyrics and see the “unbleeped” words. It’s not just sex and drinking anymore, the people your kids look up to, admire, and try to emulate are glorifying drugs as well.  I’m not laughing any more, are you? 

We’ve allowed television, music, magazines, commercials, and books the freedom to say and do whatever they wanted and now the bill has come and we have to pay.

Tara Conner is a representative, of sorts, and a very accurate one.  She simply got caught doing what a large number of young people are also doing.

I’m not trying to make light of anything she did - as a fellow Kentuckian, I’m extremely disappointed. The pride we felt when she was announced as the winner gave way to shame soon enough! It’s made worse by the fact that some are trying to “excuse” her because she’s from a small town in Kentucky. Please! How insulting. “She’s from a small town in Kentucky, New York City was too much for her…” Um, if you’re head’s on straight in Small Town, Ky - it’ll be on straight in Big Town, USA. If your head’s turned in the big city, it wasn’t screwed on very tight to begin with.

When the sanitation department carries our trash off, it doesn’t matter where they take it - it’ll be trash when it gets there because it was trash when it left here.

But, even after sinking as low as humanly possible, it is possible to rise back up. Unfortunately, the way up is always a tougher climb than the way down. It’s as true with life as it is with hills! The potential to stop and the likelihood of sliding back down are constant threats - but if you keep looking upward, your body will feel inclined to carry you there.

I hope with all my heart that she starts moving in the right direction. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown - especially when everyone wants to knock it off of your head!  Maybe she’ll actually start trying to earn it.

Better late than never.