Montana Fishburne: WE are to blame, just as much as Kim Kardashian

So many people have negative things to say about Montana Fishburne, actor Laurence Fishburne's daughter who recently moved out of her father's home to pursue a porn star career. She stunned the world by saying that she is following in the steps of Kim Kardashian, and using a sex tape to become a celebrity.

Many automatically lashed out at actor Fishburne, stating that her parents should be more involved in her life, and help her to get back on the right path. Many others jumped to criticize the likes of Kim Kardashian, as well as Paris Hilton for officially making "sleeping your way to the top" a believable dream. The last few days I have thought about this whole ridiculous ideal, and the question that burned up my mind was who is really to blame?

It's obvious Montana is old enough to make her own decisions about her life, and just chose to make some that aren't that smart, but I've come to the conclusion that not only is Kim Kardashian responsible for this mess, but us as a society as well.

When Kim Kardashian came out with a sex tape, think about how many people made it a point to watch it. The same applies for Paris Hilton. Instead of the world standing up and saying this is trashy and gives women a bad look, the world gave them both reality tv shows. What a slap on the hand! What's even worse is that not only did these girls that slept around for fame get tv shows, the world actually tuned in to watch and support them, giving them the fame they have today.We continue to tune into these tv shows, proving to our young sisters, daughters, and nieces that people that exploit themselves end up rich, famous, and adored by all. We put them all over magazine covers, and give them wax figures, then we wonder why our young ladies are starting to sleep around at earlier ages, and why there are so many unwanted teenage pregnancies.

The bottom line is this: We have noone to blame but ourselves for the misguided such as Montana Fishburne. Until we stop glorifying trashy women, our young ladies will continue to follow in their footsteps. Think about that the next time you tune in to "keep up" with the Kardashians.

Freedom from Competition-Joel Osteen's awesome!

I woke up today, excited about going to church, then realized I had nothing appropriate to wear, so I decide to watch the live stream of Lakewood Church, which the famous Joel Osteen pastors. It was very uplifting, and I was very happy that I did. He discussed many things, but most importantly to me, the freedom from competition.

Lots of times in our life, we begin to compete with others. We want to look like someone on a magazine cover. We want to dress like rich chicks. We want the big house on the corner. We want a waist like Beyonce's and so forth. The problem is we are trying to be like someone else instead of running our own race. We were not put on earth to compete with others, everyone was designed differently. Don't get upset when you can't lose enough weight to be a size 6 like your coworker or friend, when you're genetically designed to be a size 16. We spend so much time trying to imitate others that we stop ourselves from truly living up to our full potential. You have to be willing to accept that some people will be better in some areas than you are, because everyone is not running the same race. This is why it is important to only be in competition with yourself. It takes a really confident and faithful person to look at the rest of the world, and say "I'm not competing with you".

The "sizzle factor" Osteen discussed plays a major part in competition. We see the models on magazine covers, the celebs hopping off yachts and out of really nice cars, and we see the girls that bare all, and behave in promiscuous ways that end up overnight "celebrities" on reality tv shows, and we start to find things wrong with ourselves. We begin to think, without even realizing it, that we are less than them because of the glitz and glam. It may not be in your destiny to be on the tv screen, and gracing a magazine cover may not be what God intended you to do.

Often times, we see those around us doing big things, and accumulating success, and although we may pretend we are happy, inside we're sometimes jealous or sad. We begin to wonder why this is happening to others and not ourselves. It's important to loose that spirit of jealousy because it stunts our personal growth. You can't be all that you are designed to be while focusing on another person's fortune. Be happy that they are running their race in a successful way, because when you are able to celebrate others, that's when God will celebrate you. Stay blessed!