Kelly Rowland — Even A Child Of Destiny Needs A Break
Written by Matthew Milam
When my father sat down at a local restaurant in our neighborhood a year ago, he suddenly felt the need to leave. No sooner did he get up to go, he fainted with his head landing between two tables. He did it once more after that while waiting for help to come from the local Doctor's office in the next building.
It sent my mother (who was with him) into a panic and put even more gray hairs on her head. She and I both thought long afterwards that the problem was a psychological one that triggered his Lupus to act up. When more of these fainting spells took place later, we decided to change his medicine to see if he would get better. He eventually did and we can now take him out to eat without the fear of such an incident taking place again.
When a singer goes on stage, he or she takes a similar risk. Not because they have a disease like my father's, but because they give of themselves so much of the time in order to gain the money and the fame they wish for. Most of the time through, in this type of giving to the world, they often neglect their own personal health or merely forget to stop in order to regroup and replenish their minds and bodies.
Former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland for instance recently passed out at a concert in Africa while on Tour promoting her Ms. Kelly album. No sooner did the gossip sites get a hold of the news that speculation spread from a number of commentators that it was staged because of poor sales. While I don't put it past Matthew Knowles (her manager), I don't see him asking Kelly to pass out in Africa to boost her record sales.
Passing out isn't something you make up in the name of public attention. I believe after looking at the video from the concert that Kelly did in fact pass out from lack of hydration. On the other hand, Ms. Kelly has only sold 82,700 in it's first week and hasn't even made a dent overseas except in the United Kingdom.
I wonder if that was the thinking that people had when they witnessed my father falling down like that at the restaurant. Not exactly that he had planned the whole thing for attention to a product, but of the reason he was out there in the first place. Why else would a man so sickly from Lupus come outside in the general public in such a frail condition?
Perhaps it's because like Kelly Rowland, once in awhile you want to stop from your everyday routine and have a moment of normal. In his condition, it's very tricky to take him places. Even so, I, being his caretaker have to make exceptions no matter what the consequences are. Everybody needs to breathe air and feel something different once in awhile.
Kelly Rowland should probably take a break from music and use her name to get into other avenues such as acting. She may not wow critics with her performance, but she at least is thinking about how to act. Beyonce, literally, is reading her lines (especially in Dreamgirls).
Celebrities, especially singers, are people first. But somehow as admirers and consumers we turn them into more than what they really are and thus, they no longer are people to us.
Do everyday people really hate their lives that much that they are willing to put up with such crap? I certainly hope not.
Matthew Milam lives in Chicago, IL taking care of his elderly father who has lupus. He spends several hours of the day in his small apartment finding the words to put to something of a coherent article or blog entry.
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