Wednesday, May 04, 2005

 

This was from mid-April:

Yesterday when I turned on my television I happened upon George Stephanopoulos interviewing Maria Shriver about her new book, And One More Thing Before You Go.... She was talking about the experience of sending a daughter off to college. I was a little confused. Maria Shriver doesn’t have a daughter in college. Her oldest child was born in 1989, which would make her a freshman or sophomore in high school. So what makes Ms. Shriver (or Mrs. Schwarzenegger) such an expert on this experience? Well, she says she’s got nieces and friends’ daughters that she is close to. Here’s a news flash for the former NBC reporter: It’s not the same when it’s not your kid.

I’m not here to criticize Maria Shriver Schwartzenegger, who appears to be a genuinely thoughtful and articulate woman. It is to her credit that she focuses in her book on her real experience, as a daughter taking in words of wisdom from her mother. My quarrel is not with the first lady of California for taking the opportunity to push her new book on national television. What bothered me about the interview was how totally removed it was from anybody’s real life.

The Schwartzeneggers have four children. None of them will ever have to worry about how they will afford college, or whether their high school is spending too much money on drug and weapons searches and not enough on academic programs. Once they graduate, they will be able to get jobs in whatever field interests them. The opportunities will be there. What executive wouldn’t want to interview a child of Maria and Arnold, a Kennedy grandchild to boot? Even if that illustrious offspring is lazy or untalented (which there is no reason to expect) their mere presence on the payroll would be an unmatchable piece of public relations.

I have a daughter in college. I happen to think that she is a brilliant student and totally worthwhile person -- and there are even people not related to her who agree with me. I have had conversations with other parents who have kids in college, and we worry about things that are not part of the Shriver-Kennedy-Schwarzenegger nexus. We talk about things like, will my child get enough financial aid to stay at the college where she is so happy and successful? Will she be able to attend an overseas program in her major or will the airfare cost too much? If she decides on a career in the arts, or international economics, or sports management, will she be able to get a job?

As Americans, my children have access to more opportunity than most of the world’s people. But I worry. I worry that a society that is more interested in celebrity than skill will require them to settle for less in life than is available to Chelsea Clinton and Paris Hilton. I worry that, in a system based less on merit and more on connections, they will not be well-connected. Maria Shriver talked about giving back to the community. That is a very noblesse oblige sentiment. I worry that in order to remember the “little” people, you more and more have to be one of the “big” people to start with.

Shriver has always had a choice. I hope my children will have choices, and that the choices they make will be charitable and altruistic. I hope that at some point we will go back to being the kind of society where achievement is more respected than inherited wealth and name recognition. I hope that there are still people in the media and publishing world who respond to more than just being “famous for being famous.” I hope that people who buy into the idea of fame for its own sake realize that they themselves may have accomplished more in life than a famous name.

Americans still have a chance to build a society free of useless aristocracy and dedicated to equal opportunity. I worry that we’ll be so dazzled by celebrity worship that we’ll let that chance go away. Ultimately, this isn’t about my daughter, or Maria Shriver’s niece. It’s about returning to values that can make America and the world a better place for generations to come.


Comments:
Hi dorothy, it's Evan. I'm trying to teach my mother how this blogging works.
 
Your points are funny and well made-and true-it is often who you know, not what you know! There will always be people above us with more opportunities, money etc-but there are also always many people who don't even have what you have-a healthy, intelligent daughter(and son) with loving, bright parents and the encouragement and opportunity to go to college. The exact things you complain about could be said of us, too. Glass half full or empty...your choice. Happy Mother's Day
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?