Toddlers & Tiaras Vs. Lads To Leaders

     I recently learned that I live within two hours of Honey Boo Boo Child. If you haven't heard of her, she is the breakout "reality star" from TLC's "Toddlers & Tiaras." Before I go any further there is a bit of backstory that you need to know.
     For seven years I was the M.C. of the Fairest of the Fair/Miss Giles County beauty pageant. The behind the scenes experience created a bizarre fascination with pageants. Any time I come across Toddlers & Tiaras I have to watch for at least a couple of minutes. It has a rubbernecking at a car crash kind of effect on me. Sadly, this show is a snapshot of pretty much everything that is wrong in America. Spoiled children raised to believe they are royalty, the objectification of women when they are still little girls, materialism unchecked ($5,000 for a six year olds pageant dress), spray tans, color contacts, fake teeth, disrespect to parents, screaming, crying, kicking fits when a child doesn't get her way, parents who scream and cuss when kids don't perform well or win. When I catch five minutes of this show, which is all I can stomach, I am so disturbed at the current state and future of our country. But then I attend a Lads To Leaders convention (for more information on LTL, visit http://www.lads-to-leaders.org) and hope returns.
     In contrast with Toddlers & Tiaras, at L2L I saw: kids who lost competitions hug, shake hands and congratulate their competition for winning; total strangers cheer and scream like crazy for children they don't even know; congregations chanting the name of kids who finished in 3rd place; girls winning competitions, not because of their beauty, but because they delivered a speech from the Bible, led a group in song, created a church website or wrote a spiritual song; guys who didn't get a trophy because of athletic ability, but because they memorized 100 Bible verses, participated in a debate or scored high on a Scripture test. I saw boys and girls who showed poise, grace, courage, confidence, discipline, intelligence, commitment and hard work. And it wasn't just a few. All told it was 20,000 spread over 6 cities. Can you imagine the potential good this many young people can bring to our country? An entire generation of future leaders is being cultivated and it has restored my faith and hope in what can be in our nation. From 5 to 18, these boys and girls did their best and that was something to behold and something to be celebrated......just not with tiaras.