Prestige and Honor Must Be Earned

President Barack Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, are getting quite a bit of attention from the press these days. Along with the President and Michelle Obama, their mother, these two young ladies are basking in the glow of their family’s new-found celebrity and status. The perks that come with being children of a U.S. President are great. These girls seem to be enjoying them for all they're worth. Good for them.

However, there’s going to come a point in their lives when these girls will have to earn that kind of thing for themselves. Their parents’ coattails will only be so long. At least, that’s the way it should be. Too often, children of celebrities, politicians, great entrepreneurs, war heroes, etc. seem to “inherit” their parents’ prestige and honor, without having accomplished anything on their own. This is too bad because that’s not the way it’s supposed to work.

True honor and prestige must be earned. They should never be bestowed on someone as a reward for being lucky enough to be born to the right set of parents. Yet the media does not seem to understand this concept. Members of the media continue to play up unworthy people who just happen carry a certain family name.

A recent case in point was Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy. For no reason other than the Kennedy name, she was seriously considered for the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But what were Ms. Kennedy’s other qualifications? None, to be specific. Had her surname been Smith or Jones, she would not have had a snowball’s chance in you-know-where of becoming a viable contender for that job.

Everyone should be born with little other than caring parents and a world of opportunity. Everything else should be earned. Let’s hope that, in the future, nothing – not even wealth – can be inherited from one’s parents, and that all people will be judged solely by content of their character and the things that they have been able to accomplish as their own men and women.

Comments

[Nancy Daniels]

Terry,

I couldn't agree more. [On my backburner is a book I'm writing on what I think is wrong with America. Your blog could be my stimulus for its completion.] I will be checking out the rest of your material.