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January 16, 2010 - Images of First Family Makes Fur Fly

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

Well, just when you thought you couldn't see any more of Barack Obama, there is was looking rugged and handsome on a billboard looming over Times Square. Seemingly in an ad for Weatherproof Jackets, one of which he happened to wear in camera's view when he toured the Great Wall of China last fall. And then there's his lovely wife Michelle, only the second First Lady to appear on the cover of Vogue. But wait, now she's in an Ad for PETA, a FUR FREE and FABULOUS poster, standing alongside Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Underwood and Tyra Banks. Has the First Family sold out? Next are we going to see Malia and Sasha riding atop MATTEL toys? Well, next exactly. But the girls were referenced in a poster about school lunches, which gave members of the Administration indigestion. It seems as though the pitch images for Weatherproof, Peta, and the school lunches were used without Barack and Michelle's permission. And the White House is none too happy about it. But the controversy got me to thinking about the ways in which we all can get misrepresented. And feel violated. We may not have to worry about our images being used to sell products, but haven't you ever felt used without your permission? Sometimes because I wear a Roman collar people say all kinds of things that I supposedly believe and uphold, without ever asking me if I do or not. Haven't you heard that all lawyers are sharks, all television personalities phonies, and all librarians bookish bores. We love to live in a world of assumptions about one another without really caring whether they're true or not. After all, why mess up a good story with facts? It boils down, however, to a lack of respect for the unique dignity and personhood of every human being. That we all have a right to be known and respected for who we really are and what we really believe. But in this age of speed dating and dialing, most of us don't have a chance. It's far easier to wrap somebody up in that proverbial box and shelve them into uninformed categories. But I'd like to suggest that we resist the limitations and falsehoods others would impose on us. Rather, that we we keep fighting for that unique label of distinctly created Child of God. That's one worth wearing. Unclassified, spontaneous, not easily pigeon-holed. Pitchman for no one. Surprising possibility for everyone. Now there's a billboard image that would loom large for me.

To watch Father Beck give the above Reflection, click here.