Fame's Drawbacks

 

 

Fame's Drawbacks

 

 

 

 

 

Red carpets, camera flashes, take 1, take 2, diamonds galore, fur coats and stilettos, fame, autographs, fans... it's no lie that most people envy that lifestyle, perhaps for all of the glamour that seems woven into it. Everyone wants to be glamorous, after all... in some way or the other, don't they? 

                      Along the way, however, people tend to lose sight of all of the pressures, the 
depressions, the anxieties that also remain intertwined with the whole deal, the package of being famous. Pour some whiskey or champagne, pop some pills, smoke some Marlboro then some more, take the edge off of the  agonizing pressures. 

 

 

Live fast, die young, gleam in the midst of the blinding lime-light, a light that drains a person's ability to discern fiction from reality. Smile big for the public, cry hard in the solace of your home... begin to realize that to most, you're nothing but an object, like a beautiful canvas etched with a brilliant landscape, that's all you are... everyone's muse to use, abuse and lay their eyes upon for nothing more than a temporal satisfaction. 



Enjoy the countless fans and admirers who love you fiercely, fiercely with a love lacking in substance, lacking in any more depth than the beauty of your outward appearance. 

Watch the enterprise of your fame, your physical beauty fade with the deepening lines of old age. 

Next, you wonder what has happened to all the bliss... you then, look around you and see no one. All the people you tossed to the curb, too occupied with the glitz and glamour of being famous, being highly demanded by the public... you were too good for them, the brightness of your fame clouded the view, the view of those people's sincere devotion to you.

 

"Fame is fickle and I know it. It has its compensations, but it also has its drawbacks and I’ve experienced them both." ~ Marilyn Monroe

The endless mounds of alcohol, caviar, suave new sport cars, diamonds, etc., became too much of a distraction. You'd put your once valuable friendships on the back-burners while you should score the shelves at Tiffany's, cruise down the street in your tomato red Ferrari and rub elbows with other fellow celebrities (a.k.a. the epitome of class and beauty amid the entire human population). You'd become too busy for them, fame continuously beckoning, the public continuously clamoring for an encore! 

 

 

Caught in the midst of growing old, however, you have yet to stand back and watch as your spotlight fades, the luminous glare that had once blinded you from the importance of those who truly did matter. 

As the brightness fades, nothing but an empty stage remains, the props all weathered. Finally, you begin to realize just how fickle fame really is... how, lacking in substance it had been from the start.

Everyone told you it was fickle, you just had to find out for yourself, your vision couldn't help but become blurred by the seemingly endless douses of glamour. 

From then on you have yet to fight viciously, aiming to keep that red velvet curtain open and the spotlights etched over your aging complexion.

Your once beautiful eyes stained with scarlet scratches, bloodshot from all the drugs, the "live fast" motive from the days of your youth taking their tole. You were always too young to die and too beautiful to ever grow old, so what happened?

Were you too lost behind the flashes of the camera, the echoing screams of fans... all of which had been destined all along to fade with every passing year to notice?

Did you get trapped behind your vanity, the signs of age continuously caked over with ivory powders, the land of "make believe" a.k.a "Hollywood" keeping you young and beautiful as long as humanly possible? Did you stand by, imprisoned by the painfully false illusion of makeup tricks as the producers tried their hands at preserving you? Like an automobile on it's last wheel, it's owner trying to keep it running as long as possible, that's what the producers were like. However, everyone knows that when the owner's finished with the automobile, years of mending faults here and there... no more chance of preserving the vehicle, he can be quite merciless, thrusting it into some junk yard on the back streets of town. That's just the way Hollywood is, and fame too... when they're finished with you, they'll dispose of you, sometimes viciously too.  

With the final bits of this entry, I shall close by eagerly urging you, my readers (some of which are young and beautiful people, with great aspirations), to be careful what you wish for. You don't need fame, neither do you need to be in the midst of blinding lights, flashing violently to be happy... to have purpose in this world.

You don't need people to demand your autograph or eagerly clamor to have their picture taken with you... all you need is to be proud of who you are. You must also never forget that... the higher they build you up, the greater the drop. So, take a moment out of your day just to be thankful for all of the wonderful blessings you do have in your life. Be happy and grateful to have both God and a family who loves you... in the end, you really don't need anything else. You don't need anything else than people who love you, truly... not just for your outer shell, though beautiful, but for the beauty inside of you.

We are all stars, and yes... we do deserve to shine! I believe however, that God gives us our own unique way  to shine.  You don't need to be behind a camera to shine your brightest! ;)

"Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live." ~ Marilyn Monroe

xoxoxo <3 ~ Erin