Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen

I remember being a teenager. Bubble-gum pop was on the rise as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys debuted with their catchy tunes, which would turn into quite a phenomenon. We didn't listen to "mainstream" music in my house while I was growing up (not for legalism reasons, but because my mother wisely understood my personality and decided that was best for me at that age), so when the Christian boy band Plus One came on the horizon, it was quite exciting. I wouldn't say I was "obsessed" with them, but I might have been close. I definitely adored them. I knew better than to believe that a regular 13 year old girl had the time of day with a somewhat famous 18 year oldbut they were cute, their music was catchy, and I respected them. I looked up to them, put them on a pedestal really.

I remember how disappointed I was in one of the band members as I learned more about him. (Later he wrote a book about his early days in the band, explaining the mistakes he made. If I recall correctly, he may have actually not been a Christian at first.) As the hype of Plus One quickly died, so had the respect I had held for them. By the time there were only three members left releasing their third (and last) album, my feelings towards them were bittersweet, but I could see these boys had grown into men.

Fast forward to today. Unlike Plus One (who were artists of faith who were known but never truly took center stage), Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers are artists who speak of faith and take center stage. They are the Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys of my teenage days, right here and right now. As most of us know, even without trying to keep up with it, controversy has followed Miley Cyrus more than once lately. At first it was small things like not wearing her seat belt, and then it escalated to the recent incident of the Vanity Fair photo shoot. I'm not going to say that Miley is too far gone, because she is no where near Britney Spears, but it seems that fame has taken a toll on this girl. That's a lot of pressure for a 15 year old girl, even a 15 year old Christian girl. More gets thrust upon this girl for... well, more. More, more, more. It's no wonder she may crack.

As far as The Jonas Brothers go, it seems like so far, so good. Fortunately for them, they have older members in their band (the oldest being 20) and they have accountability with each other. And I don't want to say it, but maybe they have an advantage of being guys, not because that makes them stronger, but because they don't have quite the same pressure as young teenage girls in the sexually saturated media. I just arbitrarily ended up reading an excerpt of an article about them on the Rolling Stone website, and it seems they are grounded in their faith. They are known for wearing purity rings for their commitment to remain abstinent until marriage. It is admirable of them. And I don't want to sound skeptical of cynical, but I hope that all three stick with it. I get the feeling that these are all three very grounded guys, but I have had that feeling before and been wrong before.

I want so badly for the generation that the Jonas Brothers reach out to to actually have a role model that sticks to their guns. Someone who does not back down or compromise, like all the other so-called role models before have done. I know what it's like to admire someone (famous or not), to think so highly of them, and to watch them fall. And I hope that if the Jonas Brothers never "fall" in such a way like all celebrities seem to, that instead of them getting glory for it, God would. Because it's only through Him that they will be able to stand their ground.

I remember being a teenager. That time when you just need someone to look up to, someone that has traveled through life just a little bit longer than you and, despite their mistakes, has always picked themselves back up and continued to strive to do what's right. It doesn't matter if it's a guy singing on stage to a sold-out crowd or a girl who sits with the "losers" at school.

Will someone just please stand strong?