Brangelina’s Ark
The following is a guest post by writer Michael Nolan. If you’d like to see the guest post I wrote in exchange, head on over to Frugal Mania!
I guess I should start by saying that I adore children. I say that because you probably won’t think I do in a minute or two.
That said, I have to also say that Angelina Jolie is probably one of the most beautiful women in the world - bar none - and Brad Pitt is nothing to scoff at either. I can appreciate how the former has risen from being a skanky drifter in Thelma & Louise to People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive (so many times that I stopped counting at some point) and how the latter has overcome Billy Bobgate to become a worldwide ambassador for things that are good and right.
With that out of the way I have to tell you that as an innocent disinterested third party I can’t for the life of me understand what the draw is for celebrity adoptions of children from other countries, especially seeing as there are thousands upon thousands of children right here in the U.S. that need loving homes.
I don’t want to believe that these adoptions are public relations stunts, but what other logical conclusion can I draw? It isn’t even just Brangelina who seems to be guilty of this. Good old Madge (that’s what folks in-the-know are calling Madonna these days) has gone from being the gap-toothed sex goddess of the universe to writing children’s books and adopting children all over the world.
At what point do these celebrities wake up and realize that we need to take care of our dirty laundry at home before we start shopping for new accessories on the international marketplace? Maybe I’m just bitter because as a gay man who desperately seeks fatherhood, I don’t have the luxury of adopting with the apparent ease afforded these celebrity parents who seem to be a part of the International Child of the Month Club.
The only thing I know for sure is that if Brad and Angelina don’t slow down soon, their next home is going to have to be an ark.
About the Author: Michael Nolan is the oft-opinionated but never duplicated writer for Frugal Mania and a dozen other blogs scattered here and there across the ‘net. Feel free to visit and leave your love/hate letters anytime…he gets bored and needs something to laugh at from time to time.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Mike, I can understand where you’re coming from, about the taking care of “our dirty laundry at home before we start shopping for new accessories on the international marketplace.” Yes, I’m sure there are very many children in need of saving in the US as well as in other parts of the world.
All of what follows is just my opinion of course, but I think that many of the kids in the US, unlike those in the third world, still have a lot more to hope for. There are social services that they can turn to, and while I know some cannot avail of these as well, at least they are available. On the other hand, many of the orphaned kids from Africa, Southeast Asia and other third world countries have to rely on outside help as their governments hardly ever provide anything for them. It’s really private funding coming mostly from grants that even now has been dwindling.
In the end though, orphaned children are orphaned children wherever they are from, and they need help and love. If these celebrities can give it to them, that’s great.
I do hope that you will be able to find a way to become a father. I find it unfair that just because you’re a gay man, things are made difficult for you to be able to adopt a child. While not all with agree, I think parenthood (even single parenthood in my case), with all its accompanying ups and downs, is, at the end of the day, a great thing. One look at my son as he sleeps is proof of that.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
By the way, Mike. I’m glad you crossposted and Randi let me to your blog (Frugal Mania). Interesting read and I think I’ll keep visiting if you don’t mind.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
And one more thing, I just noticed that it was Michael and not Mike (am a bit slow on that). Sorry for taking the liberty. For all I know, you might not like being called Mike, so sorry if I did.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am
isacutie: Thank you for the kind words, and it doesn’t bother me at all that people online will sometimes call me Mike. I’m used to being called by much worse names!
Thanks for reading!
June 25th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I think you are confused about how easy it is to adopt any child in the U.S. Look into that process — whether it be infant adoption or from-foster-care adoption — before you roll your eyes at anyone who chooses to adopt internationally.
No one who adopts is doing so to pick up a new accessory. It is a difficult process for everyone involved — the adoptive parent, the child and the birth parent. People (including celebrities) who adopt children outside their race or from other countries are doing so because they want to be parents, period. It’s so upsetting to see adoptive parents accused of adopting for ANY other reason than that. (Besides the popular “accessory” sneer, another favorite is the “you’re such a hero for saving this child” thing. That’s equally ridiculous. Adopting a child is not a humanitarian effort — no one does it for that reason.)
I hope you are able to become a parent — a person who wants to provide a healthy, nurturing, happy home for a child should not be stopped from doing so.