“Be careful, Silva. People will attack you.”
I heard this comment from several people when I shared that something I had written would be published in the Fresno Bee. Obviously, what I have to say runs counter-culture to what’s popular in society these days, but it needs to be said.
Thankfully, I have pretty thick skin. I prayed a lot about it and asked friends to pray, and the Lord shielded me from any major attacks.
There was a big game on tv a few days ago – anyone watch it? My home team, the New England Patriots, made the comeback of a lifetime to beat the Atlanta Falcons in a truly historic SuperBowl LI. Go Pats!
In the middle of the game was the famous halftime show. Some people look forward to the performance even more than the game (crazy, I know!). This year Lady Gaga was the sole performer, and she entertained in truly Gaga fashion.
Starting with a solid rendition of “God Bless America,” Lady Gaga did the opposite of what most commentators expected – she united the country instead of dividing it. She then literally jumped off the roof of the stadium onto the platform in the center of the field and continued her 13-minute set of many of her biggest hits.
Lady Gaga wore three costumes designed by Atelier Versace. The first was a bodysuit with pronounced shoulders and knee-high boots all covered in Swarovski crystals. She then added a spiky gold bolero jacket to the shiny leotard. Finally, she changed into a white cropped leather jacket that looked like football shoulder pads and matching glittery hot pants.
This is where the Internet chatter started. Apparently Lady Gaga’s incredible voice, acrobatics, dancing and performance were not enough to get the crowd going – Internet trolls had to point out her belly. People can be so mean hiding anonymously behind their keyboards and devices! Guess what, everyone: when you wear hot pants and you bend over while dancing, the skin over your midriff does in fact fold over. It doesn’t mean you are out of shape; that’s just how our skin works.
Lady Gaga is beautiful, toned, strong and fit. You have to be to perform the way she does. And if she has a belly, so what? How does that affect her performance in any way?
But, like with my article, once you put yourself out there for public consumption, you become vulnerable to attack. You have to take the bad with the good. Gaga unquestionably WON her SuperBowl performance – no doubt about it.
Her body shamers should be ashamed of their own behavior. Gaga is a real person with a real body. She gave an amazing performance and that should be all that needs discussing. We would all do better to focus on each other’s achievements, character and service than on appearance.
Hopefully Lady Gaga has thick skin, too.
~ Silva
If you have questions or topics you’d like to see addressed in this blog, please email me at [email protected]. You can read more from me at www.onmyshoebox.com.
