A Letter to Cyrus

We’ll get back to Harry Potter next week.  As of right now, I’m one chapter away from finishing Half-Blood Prince, and instead of what I’ve been doing, examining each book separately, I want to explore the commonalities in each installment, and I can’t do a good job of that until I’ve finished the last book.

Besides, Harry Potter is old.  Miley Cyrus is much more recent.

I haven’t seen her recent video with Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and I’m not all that interested in watching it, partly because I just found out what twerking was two weeks ago (and it still strikes me as an appropriately stupid name for a comparably stupid dance move), but mostly because I hate that song.  It seems to be played every half-hour on the radio and it strikes the ear like a mosquito buzzing there, ready to suck the blood from you, one drop at a time.

It’s not fair that Miley Cyrus is taking most of the heat while Robin Thicke seems to be getting less attention, but I understand why it is.  Cyrus had been a role model for children for several years and she has since been flushing that reputation down the toilet.  So, although I doubt she will ever read this, I’m going to write this letter to her anyways, and hopefully somebody can lovingly deliver the same type of message to her in person:

Dear Ms. Cyrus,

You happen to be a very attractive and talented young woman.  You were given an opportunity to make connections and have a career at a very young age.  People were paying you to use a talent that you had, and there was a lot of support behind the scenes to help you develop your skills and attract more people to you.

I understand that you wanted to move on from your childhood beginnings.  Hannah Montana was fun but you surely didn’t want to be part of that forever.  You do have to grow up and take part in the adult world.

Flaunting your sexuality in public, especially as part of an entertainment, is not the way to go about it.  Yes, there are women in your field who have been doing that their whole careers and are very successful.  In fact, much of what’s popular can be even more risqué than anything you will come up with.  So why does it seem that so many of your fans are picking on you?

Because although these other women remain popular and successful, and they do please a significant number of people, one thing they lack among their audiences is respect.  And this is why the decisions you’ve been making in the past year are so damaging, because you had respect.  Children looked up to you, parents appreciated you, your peers either wanted to be your friend, and even those who didn’t care for your work could offer no criticism worse than it just wasn’t their thing.  Because of your decisions, though, that respect is being put to rest.

But this isn’t the part that concerns me the most.  Sure, you were a role model.  There are many, I’m sure, that worry your new style is going to do damage to your fans, but I disagree.  What’s actually going to happen is that those who looked up to you are going to find a new person to admire, somebody who represents who you used to be.  I don’t think you’ve done any lasting damage to others; I just think you’ve lost your chance to inspire them.

What worries is actually your health.  I hope I am wrong, but with your new open, blithe, partying attitude that you’ve adopted, I’m concerned about the potential alcoholism and drug abuse that could threaten to take over your life.  I’ve had friends with the same attitude you seem to possess now, and substance abuse was not traveling far away from them.  Most of these friends are still stuck in that pernicious trap.

And besides the damage that the substances do to their bodies, worse is the effects they have on their mental health and social relationships.  It disconnects them from reality and makes it so that they are often fearful, angry, and stressed, not always in that order.  And it’s very hard for them to straighten their lives after walking down that road.

So please, please, take a look at your life and ask if this is what you really want.  If the fans were gone, if your friends were gone, in short, if you were to start over, are these the kind of things that you would want to do?  Is this whom you really are?  If not, make those changes now.  Because if I’m right (and I hope I’m not) your life is on the line.  Don’t waste it.