Stage door parents push their kids to stardom. Have for
ages. But at what price?
Think about the ones who’ve made it in entertainment,
modeling and athletics, sons and daughters, mostly daughters.
Chris Evert, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Brittney Spears, Jon
Bennet Ramsey, Liza Minelli and maybe the latest… Simone Biles.
You look at old videos of Jon Benet, a tyke dressed like
Hollywood’s idea of a trailer trash glamor girl. Or Miley as Hannah
Montana and or the young and still-black Michael Jackson, and sure you see
talent. You look at Biles and you see beauty, strength, grace and the defiance
of gravity. And what do they have in common?
They are or were crazy. Maybe they were born that way. But
lots of people are born with big talent and unstable personalities. We’ve never
heard of most of them. Unless they had parents who didn’t or don’t have limits.
What about Biles? Twenty-four years old. Thought to be one of or
THE best woman gymnast ever. She has the most medals ever won in her
Olympic sport… and the most gold. She goes to Tokyo for the current
Olympics. She’s expected to shine. We KNOW she’s going to shine… to
dazzle. And what does she do?
She drops out.
Just like that.
Game over.
Well, that happens. We didn’t see much of Miley between Hannah
Montana and twerking. Spears has been in and out of the news for years, but
relatively infrequently for artistic achievement. So, Biles took off a year and
wrote a book.
“Reach for your dreams,” she said in print. That was
2017. Okay, Ms. Biles, it’s 2021. Get ready for your closeup.
Biles’ childhood was rocky. She got shipped around from
caretaker to caretaker. She got pushed to excellence. She got homeschooled so
there’d be more time to practice. She worked out. And worked out. And
worked some more. And eventually it got to be too much for her. So she just
said “no.”
Maybe it wasn’t that simple. Or… maybe she didn’t want to be
the next Michael Jackson or Britney or Evert. So now for the one last
hurrah she comes back for one event, the balance beam finals.
But she’s teaching us a lesson about peer pressure and parental
pressure and self awareness.
She reached the top. Probably could have stayed there. Probably
showed us a thing or two this summer in Tokyo.
Too bad for us she didn’t. But good for her.
I’m Wes Richards. My
opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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