Remember the Miss Australia Pageant???

Back when the era of Beauty Queen in Australia was more about substance than swimsuits???

Unlike the now rather pathetic pageants that rely totally on a females outward beauty the Miss Australia Pageant was all about balance. It was so much more than just a competition for young women that every mother wished for a daughter, every father wished for a princess and every young man wished for a missus.... The pageant one one side involved the many facets that made up all the qualities that young women aspired to in intelligence, demeanor, poise, beauty and ability then the other it was about raising monies and awareness for the spastic welfare league. It was a triumph of humanity combining the two elements of humanity....that is all that a human can do to make themsleves as good as they can to assist those who are trapped by cerebral palsy and unable to shine so outwardly.

I was so fotunate as a kid in the early 90's to be exposed to this world thanks to my older sister Sharyn's participation when she was 18. Growing up on a farm I was not exposed to brain damaged humans, though I knew only too well about the affliction in our animals with many livestock and working dogs being affected and feeling such empathy for these animals that seemed to be trying to fight their own bodies to express themselves.

It was a huge part of the pageant for my sister to volunteer at the Spastic Welfare League and as a consequence I too was exposed to people with Cerebral Palsy. It was a fortunate education for me as a young lad which led to so much understanding for those, who unlike me, were not able to do as their mind wanted.

Now we live in an era where the role models for young women are no longer Miss Australia's who encompass all the virtues that are great in our society and are left with the lowest denominator of simple sexual attractiveness which I find so sad. I listened to the latest hit music on the radio this week and hear the most popular female artists sing of being 'tag teamed', 'hit','lied to' and 'cheated on' all with accompanying film clips of overt sexulaisation.

Miss Australia was a pageant that said to young women 'you too can be good, you too can help, you too can succeed.....now we are left with role models that are sports stars, that few girls can identify with (and even then they are taking their clothes off for sponsors) and these singers that seem only to be able to get a recording contract if they are showing their knickers. Even sadder in Britain 30% of girls aspire to be a glamour model,that is for those of you who don't know of the page 3 girl and the host of mens mags, an object of mens lust. Whilst sexuality is something that is essential to human kind, making it central to your life results serious damage due to the simple fact that it is shortlived. The girl who aspires to be an object of desire will have little joy as they age when those mens lust they were desperate to please have moved on to the next 'good sort'.

Sadly for parents wanting to show their daughters someone to aspire to the pickings are slim and many feel guilty for their love of the likes of Brittney Spears and Miley Cyrus...who have gone on to be their own antitheses.

All I have to say is Thank God for the soon to be Princess, Kate Middleton. Who carries on what is at the heart of Miss Australia, a young ordinary woman who through self disciplin and determination makes her own way with the benifits of education and self improvemnet to succeed in her goals and assiast others along the way.