I read in the newspaper this morning that Saudi Arabia is hosting its 2nd annual "Miss Beautiful Morals" contest. They are looking for the contestant that shows the most devotion and respect for her parents. It is their answer to the West's beauty pageants.
Now, I am not a huge fan of beauty pageants but I can't imagine trying to judge someone based on their morals. How do they know what their morals are? Do they just ask them? Are there tests or studies? Do any of us always know what our morals are until they are tested?
A few times I have watched "What Would You Do?" on one of the newsmagazine series. (I don't recall which one - 48 Hrs...who knows?) It has fascinated me because it presents differing situations (i.e. shoplifting, incidents of racial prejudice, a wife beating her husband, youth taunting each other, etc) and tests to see people's reactions. The situations are staged but the people encountering them are real.
Many times I have asked myself what I would do in the depicted situation. Would I get involved? Would I keep quiet? Sometimes, I am not sure how I would react. Sometimes I am not even sure how I would want to react. This seems to be a pretty good test of someone's real moral character.
I am not sure how you test moral character in a beauty pageant.
2 weeks ago
ok here is me judging someone, but i think this happens in utah eveyday. it is so important to be the happiest wife/mother, have the cleanest home, to read the most scriptures, bring the most dinners to new moms/the sick...and so forth.
ReplyDeletei am what i am. certainly not perfect and i would be last place in any contest that questions how i treat my parents. but i do my best, complain alot, make huge mistakes. and guess what, im ok with that. im not here to pretend to be perfect, im here to do the best i can.
but if i was a beauty contest...id be the winner.