While I originally found this poster funny, I — due to a post on the FaceBook where I found the original pic — was informed about some of Marilyn’s biographical history. Firstly, her mother was mentally ill, so we know that there was an unstable home from the get-go for Marilyn. And any child in other than the ideal mother/father home are statistically known to increase in bad-choices and bad-behavior. Not only that, as a foster child, Marilyn was sexually abused.
Yvonne, the woman who called this to my attention, makes a great point:
✤ “She tried her best with the cards life gave her.”…. “Marilyn suffered her entire life… The daughter of her acting coach told Marilyn ‘I want to be just like you,’ Marilyn replied ‘honey, you don’t want to be me, people will just use you.'”
So, I want to leave the poster up with my verbal retraction of it as a lesson learned a) by me, and b) a lesson for others. What we see in society “acted out” may often times be something else (see #’s 4 & 6 for example) that deserves compassion ~ especially Christian compassion… we invented it: humanism [something other world views lack, inherently] ~ rather than humor or derision. Marilyn was lost and needed Christ just like any of us did — do.
Mary Magdalene
What I am basically saying is that it is all fun and games till someone gets hurt, and this girl was thrust into the underbelly of Hollywood and the world stage by people who replaced father-figures and family, it should be a cautionary tale. One that should shake us awake and pray, not for Marilyn, obviously. But to pray for the many girls and boys in the world that are dealt bad cards. And to effectively counter culture’s acceptance of behavior based off of bad cards by its [culture’s] tendency to rubber stamp all behavior as equal, acceptable, or beneficial. (After reading #’s 4 & 6 you will note I am speaking about same-sex marriage as one example.)
Nor should we encourage girls or boys to mimic behavior wrought by these “bad cards” that are displayed in the narcissism of pop-culture.
And, as an aside, who would Jesus invite into your inner-circle of friends that would surprise you like Mary Magdalene surprised the religious leaders of Israel?