In the Spotlight

A while back I talked about celebrities making mistakes in life and how they are in the spotlight all the time. I’ve been thinking about this more and it has got me wondering if being a celebrity is something that people actually want to do. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a little ridiculous to have to worry about what you’re doing because your fans will see it. It’s kind of hard to live your life when you have to worry about everyone else. And that is why celebrities do things wrong, because they stop caring about what everyone else thinks as we all have been taught and they just live their lives.

As a kid everyone wants to be famous, it’s just a stage. Kids don’t understand the stress that comes with being famous, and no one truly does until they have a first-hand account of it. It is important though that we allow kids to dream to be famous. Crushing their dreams and imagination that early will definitely hinder their creative thinking. So let them go through that stage, the majority of kids do.

 

I urge you to take a look at what has happened to people being in the spotlight. Everyone knows about Lindsay Lohan’s struggle and that it was likely related to her being in show business for her whole life. Being in show business at a young age can definitely take away from someone’s childhood. They’re always in the spotlight and can’t have as much fun as they want to. They may like being in movies or on TV, but that’s their job and eventually if they change their mind and decide to get out of show business they’re stuck. If you were on TV all your life and decided at 30 that you wanted to be a veterinarian you would have to go back to school and learn everything later in life. I can imagine that starting over at age 30 and leaving everything you have known for the last 25 years behind isn’t easy.

Then there are those celebrities that do one thing wrong in life and it hurts their entire career. Drivers get DUI’s every day, but when a celebrity gets a DUI it is seen by everyone. People make mistakes, and celebrities are people. Celebrities should be kept to the same standard as everyone else, but in some cases they are held to a higher standard. They’re expected to be as close to perfect as possible and I just don’t think that that is realistic at all. Celebrities make mistakes just like everyone else, so why should their careers have to suffer for the same mistake that would barely affect people in everyday society?

Some people can handle the stress of being a celebrity. I admire that because I can imagine that it isn’t easy at all. There are so many factors in a celebrity’s life that they have to think about; whether it is what the fans will think of their actions or whether they’ll be able to spend time with their family without the paparazzi being all over them. They aren’t given the chance to be alone and just live their life. People who aren’t celebrities value their privacy, but celebrities value it even more because they know that it is very limited.

If you think you can handle being a celebrity, I say go for it. More power to you. Just make sure you think about every aspect of it before you do it. It’s a completely different life and, as I have already said, celebrities often crack under the pressure. It isn’t for everybody, but some people can handle it. Going forward you need to realize that it isn’t always all fun and games. At the end of the day, it is your occupation and yes it will be fun but it won’t be fun all of the time. Think before you go into show business, there are so many deciding factors. I know this probably isn’t much coming from a kid who has never been a celebrity and maybe will never be, but just take everything into consideration.

-Eric Proulx

Fear of Change

Change isn’t something that I’ve been known to take easily. I used to freak out at minor changes and get anxiety about new things in my life. I guess I got better with that as I grew up, but sometimes I still fear change. Sometimes it’s really hard to explain why change scares me. Why does change affect some people so much?

I remember reacting terribly to two changes in my life. Both are things that the vast majority of kids go through and I probably shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. The first one happened when I was changing schools from elementary school to junior high school. Of course going into a new school most people are nervous, but they have some excitement too. I was not excited at all. I over-analyzed everything when I thought about going to junior high and I tried my best at throwing temper tantrums so my parents wouldn’t make me go, obviously to no avail. Being in the same school for my whole childhood then going to a bigger school with more people, harder classes and more homework just really intimidated me. I was worried about making new friends and keeping my old ones. I was a mess.

When I got there I soon found out that I had nothing to be afraid of. Yes the school was bigger, there were more people and there was more homework but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. This change definitely set me up for a new change that would happen two years later: high school. I was nervous going into high school, but I wasn’t scared this time. Junior High was good for me and was the first thing that began to show me that I shouldn’t be scared of changes.

The other change came late in high school. A lot of people growing up change houses and it is definitely a big change for everyone. I hoped that I would never go through that and for a while I didn’t think I would. Eventually my dad sold the house and we had to move out, and I didn’t take it well. I lived in that house for 17 years of my life and it was just surreal to me to think that it wasn’t my house anymore. This probably shouldn’t have been a big deal to me, but for some time I felt like I didn’t have a place that was mine. Obviously that wasn’t true at all; I had more than one place for me. I had my mom’s house, my dad’s new house and I distinctly remember my girlfriend telling me that I always had a place with her. She even went as far to let me have a wall in her room that I could put stuff on. That meant more to me than I had the words to explain.

Personally, I think that I just get too used to my life as it is that I fight change. I’ve had numerous occasions where I rejected change because I was afraid to try something new. I feel like that is one of my biggest flaws. It makes me mad to think about how much I probably missed out on in high school because I wasn’t open to trying something new. That is without a doubt something that I am trying to work on before it’s too late.

Sometimes I get really attached to people too, and when my relationship with them changes even a little bit it’s hard for me. I get used to how our relationship is and as soon as it changes I don’t know what to do. I’ve been working on telling myself that changes aren’t always for good. Relationships change all the time, but most end up going back to the way you are. And even if they don’t, you’ll get over it in time. You don’t need other people there for you to be you. I really have nothing to fear when it comes to that.

My fear of change has begun to get better, but I still need to work on it. I know that change is good in some cases, and that I should be open to change because I could be missing out on something amazing. I’m assuming that I’m not the only one that is afraid of trying something new. For those of you who have the same fear, don’t be scared. Trying something new, maybe even out of your comfort zone, could teach you so much about yourself. Get out there and embrace change because change teaches you lessons and it shapes you into a more well-rounded person.

-Eric Proulx

Same Love

In light of numerous states legalizing same-sex marriage I have decided to share my views on homosexual people. Massachusetts, who was the first state in the US to issue a same-sex marriage license, has been allowing this since 2004 and I am happy to see that other states are beginning to follow suit. Yesterday, voters in Maine, Washington, and Maryland became the first states to legalize same-sex marriages through popular referendum. This is definitely a big step towards the equality of homosexuals.

I completely support gay marriage and the equality of homosexuals. I absolutely hate the people that are disgusted by gay people. I really don’t understand what the problem is. It isn’t your life to judge, so just let them be. Who are you to say that gays aren’t normal? Is there even a normal today? Everyone is completely unique in their own way. And I don’t see any reason why being gay should be seen as wrong. Shame on you if you’ve ever made fun of someone or disowned them for being gay.

It breaks my heart hearing news stories about gay teens committing suicide because of bullying. Kids don’t think about what they’re saying when they’re using derogatory terms toward gay people. Honestly, when I was younger I would throw around those terms too. But when you realize that the words you say can actually hurt someone, you need to stop. Not only should people not bully gay people, but they shouldn’t bully anyone to that extent. Just because someone is different or maybe a little weird it doesn’t mean that you have the right to judge them and make fun of them.

Another thing that I don’t like is that some Christians are so close minded about homosexuality and can’t accept it in the slightest. The Bible was written how many years ago? We can’t just read the Bible and put it in our own words in order to justify condemning homosexuality. I’m not saying that all Christians are like that; of course it varies from person to person, but I have experienced some people that are like that.

People sometimes say that people turned gay and I hate that too. I thoroughly believe that gay people were born that way, just as other people were born straight. It isn’t something that someone chooses to be, it’s inside of them. When people say that I always bite my tongue, but I really want to go off and tell them how ignorant they are for thinking that. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to look at gay people the same way as you look at straight people.

We’re living in the 21^st century; of course you are going to see gay people around. I’m not saying that you need to agree with same-sex relationships and support it, but you should at least be able to accept it. Times have definitely changed and if you aren’t willing to accept it then I just think that you are very closed minded. How is the love of a gay couple any different than the love of a heterosexual couple? The quick and easy answer for me to that question is: It isn’t. It is two people that love each other, who cares what their genders are?

Recently, a rapper that I listen to named Macklemore came out with a song called Same Love. This song is in support for gay marriage and I definitely give props to Macklemore for this. Although it may not be the style that most of you like, give it a listen and try to listen to the lyrics. It is one of the strongest messages that I have ever heard in a song, and I listen to a lot of music.

 I have gay relatives and I have gay friends. I don’t look at them any differently for it either. Why should I? We should be able to love whoever we want and not have to be afraid to show that. Gay people should have the same exact rights as straight people. My uncle is married to a man, but he isn’t any different than any of my other uncles. I love him just as I love all of my other relatives, and I don’t see a single reason why I shouldn’t. Because at the end of the day Macklemore is right, they have the “same love” as straight people despite what some people think.

-Eric Proulx

The Importance Of Friends

I went on my Discovery camping trip this weekend and to my surprise it was pretty fun. For those of you that don’t know what Discovery is; it is an outdoor education class at Gordon College with ropes courses and rock climbing and all that jazz. I didn’t expect to have fun this weekend because for one I don’t really like camping and also I didn’t really know anyone in my group at all. That didn’t matter though. This weekend was so fun because I got to know all of the people in my class and found out that they are pretty awesome people. I guess you can say that I made some new friends, and you can never have enough friends.

By friends I don’t mean Facebook friends; honestly I don’t really associate with many of my Facebook friends, I just keep them as friends because they’re either amusing or I’m too lazy to go through all of them and delete some. Anyway, I’m talking about genuine friends. The friends that actually care about what’s going on in your life and do whatever they can to help you. You would think that these friends are hard to come by, but if you find the right people and open up to them it’s actually pretty easy to find them.

 

Growing up you don’t quickly find friends like this. Of course in elementary school you have the friends that you hang out with the most, but at a young age you aren’t capable of having these genuine friendships often. I probably had 5 different best friends throughout elementary school and they all went away for one reason or another. Once I hit junior high I had a good group of friends and had some pretty good friends that I could tell almost anything to. But of course junior high are the awkward years and most of those friendships also faded early in high school.

Then there was high school, where you found out who your true friends were and got rid of the people who were quick to stab you in the back. Honestly, for the first three years of high school I didn’t make many new friends that turned into complete genuine friends. That was probably because I was shy and couldn’t open up to people easily. I was in a shell, as I like to call it. I feared to be myself around new people because I didn’t know what they were going to think. I still had a group of friends and I had my best friends that I could open up to a little bit and tell them stuff, but I feared opening up to anyone else. You could probably attribute some of that fear to the fact that everyone was getting stabbed in the back by the people that they thought were their genuine friends.

Senior year was different though. I started dating my girlfriend senior year and definitely started to come out of my shell. I began to become friends with some of her friends and started to open up and be myself more. I spent a lot of time with them and became close with them and I was definitely happier than I had been in the past.

Looking back on senior year I realize that as it became later and later in the year I hung out with my own friends less and less. I definitely regret this. I missed out on a lot of good times that they had and sort of lost the idea of being my own person a little bit. Remembering the times that I did spend with my group of friends, it was amazing. It was great to experience all of the shenanigans that normal teenagers experience. And don’t get me wrong I had a bunch of fun with my girlfriend’s group of friends too, but I feel like I distanced myself from my own friends and that was something that I never wanted to do.

Now that I’m in college I have those friends that I hang out with sometimes, but again I’m finding it hard to find people that I can open up to. I guess that’s just because I’ve only been here for 2 and a half months. I’m sure as my college career progresses my friendships will grow and some of these people will be my friends for a really long time. I just miss those friends that I can go to with anything and not worry about them telling anyone or judging me. Those friends that helped me through anything and were always there.

Friends come from all different experiences and you can’t limit yourself when it comes to making friends. It’s good to have different friends and like I said you can’t really have enough of them. The friends I’m making at college are awesome and I’m sure I’ll still find more friends here. Honestly though, I can’t wait until summer when I can hang out with all of my high school friends. They’re always fun to be around. And of course I’m looking forward to Bro-giving that isn’t too far away. Shout out to Torin Reilly on that one. My high school friends are the type of friends that I’ll have for a long time after high school. Torin, this video is also for you.

 It’s good to have friends because it gives you a way to never have to go through anything alone. They get you away from the troubles of your life and give you a way to just go out and have some fun. If you’re lucky you can find those friends that can offer you someone to talk to when you’re going through something hard too. Remember, you’re never alone when you’ve got your friends.

-Eric Proulx

Death is Part of Life

How can something so simple be so complex? At the end of life is death, sounds simple right? But what exactly is death? It is the end of life, but it is also the beginning of a journey into the afterlife. A Christian hopes it is the beginning of their journey into heaven. This is one thing that has never really been clear to me. What is death?

I’ve thought a lot about death in the past and have tried to understand what other religions believe happens after death. Christians believe that when you die you either go to heaven or hell, but I have struggled with this because it seems rather vague. What exactly happens when you get to heaven? From what I’ve learned, there are other religions that believe in reincarnation. This seems more appealing to me because leaving this world for good doesn’t make complete sense to me. And then there are the ancient Egyptians that believe in a complete afterlife. Now that is an interesting idea. What I’ve come to find out is that I don’t really know what I believe happens after death, and I probably never will.

I guess I’ll find out what happens after death when I die. Honestly, I’m a little nervous to feel death. I hope I don’t feel it at all. Dying in my sleep would be ideal. I think the main reason that people fear death is because they don’t know what to expect. They don’t know how it’s going to feel or what’s going to happen after they die. That is pretty scary. We just have to remember that there is no sense in worrying or fearing death because no matter what it’s going to happen eventually. There is no escaping it and fearing it is pretty pointless.

Now I should tell you why reincarnation sounds most appealing to me. I am a Christian, but reincarnation seems to be the only way that I can stay on this earth forever. How awesome does that sound? The earth is such a beautiful place and we’re lucky to live on it. And frankly, I’m not ready to leave it anytime soon and I can’t imagine ever having to leave it. One thing about reincarnation bothers me. When you are reincarnated you forget past lives, thus forgetting past lessons and essentially starting over. I don’t want to start over, I’m happy with the live I’m living and if living forever was an option I would say sign me up for that! But back to reality, living forever isn’t an option and to me reincarnation is as close as possible to that.

I hope that you’ve begun to think of death in a more complex way. Because death really isn’t as simple as we make it out to be. We have the “everyone dies, so what?” mentality and there’s actually much more to it. But it is true, everyone dies and that’s just how it is. I don’t have any answers as to why this is how it is, it just simply is. You can fear death and worry about it all you want, but in the end it will come whether you are ready or not. My hope is that when death comes to take me in my very old age in my sleep after my wife has died that I can go into whatever is after death with an open mind. I don’t know what to expect, but I hope that I’m ready when death finally comes to take me. And I hope that you are too. Death is inevitable and is part of life.

-Eric Proulx