By Beatriz Melendez-Gill
I have become an admirer of Pamela Lamont since she began writing for PNB. It didn't matter that I knew I would often disagree with her since I have entered and directed pageants and have a deep love for the celebrations. All that mattered was that as an intelligent woman, I would be able to read insightful articles written by an intellectual journalist. I have not agreed with her on any subject so far, but I can honestly say that she has opened up new ways of looking at a topic, and for that I thank her.
However, I must strongly disagree with her view on charities within the pageant world. My grandmother, a missionary who worked with Mother Teresa for a short while, relayed to me that one particular day, a well-to-do woman who had previously shunned the missionaries volunteered to help them tend the sick. My grandmother was angered by the woman's lack of previous interest and was convinced that the woman was after publicity. The kind-hearted Mother Teresa told my grandmother, "Does it matter who feeds the hungry as long as their bellies are full? Does it matter who cradles the dying children so long as they don't die alone?" My grandmother said that this was the greatest lesson in humility that she ever learned.
As a former titleholder, I spoke at rallies against the nuclear arms policies of the Chinese government. I also fed the hungry and helped build homes for the homeless. I am sure that the homeless family who lives in that home doesn't care why I helped, only that they have shelter from the storm.
And one more very important point When I was Miss Fayetteville Teen of the Year, I didn't want to spend Friday nights at the soup kitchen, but I thank God every day of my life that my director booked me to do it. I have spent every day of my life since then rallying for those who have less than I.
Sometimes lessons of love and kindness are learned in this way. If platforms open the eyes of one young woman to become involved [in helping others], I will gladly suffer the onslaught of those insincere sob stories. After all, the national winners, like Mrs. International, Mary Kay Sanders (who actually died of breast cancer, the disease she fought in her platform), really do believe in their causes. They live their causes, and the judges see the sincerity. That is why they are the national winners!
As for holding women back from finding other causes to believe in, no pageant asks a woman to sign away her right to think or believe as she pleases. Although I respect Ms. Lamont's right to voice her opinion and look forward to learning many things from her, I think that perhaps she has been sidetracked by her dislike of pageants and has been unreceptive to the fact that most titleholders are feminists, women who believe that all women have the right to live their lives as they see fit, even if that means entering pageants. I believe that you never stop learning, even from those with whom you disagree. That in itself is a lesson many pageant-bashers fail to learn!
With great respect,
Beatriz Melendez-Gill
Dear Pamela,
I couldn't agree with you more.
The Miss America Pageant has become a disease-of-the-year event. . . . As someone who has always been fascinated by this particular pageant more than any other (and no, not because of the bathing suit -- you're talkin' to a gay guy here), I cannot believe that America cannot find a woman who is truly what I feel Miss America should be. Why not ask them questions ALL night? I mean all night, on the spot. Let's see if there is a brain there.
There's something so unrealistic but absolutely "have to see TV" about this event, I can't explain it. I really feel that some of the women actually get it, but this year I thought the '90s woman has moved back to the '50s -- WAY BACK.
Keep writing. I think you're extremely witty, honest and definitely in the moment.
A fan
(This writer also made a point of describing his personal familiarity with the tragedy of diabetes.)
