Madonna and Her Adopted Baby from Malawi

So Madonna adopted an unfortunate child from Malawi? There's nothing wrong with that. What I can't understand is the media attention surrounding this. She is not committing a crime and she certainly is not doing something that should be considered an act of immorality.

So what's the uproar about? One argument is that people think that Madonna's celebrity status allowed her to expedite the adopting process. Well, of course it did. That's the world we live in. People with fame or fortune get more things than those who have neither one. And as for those who have both fame and fortune, well they get the things out of life that only the rest of us can dream about. Madonna is one of those people. She has fame and fortune, and to be mad about her expediting the adoption process is to be mad at her for her having a dream house, having a dream husband or having a dream physique. For her, those things just come easier and with less work than the average person. She is a gifted person who has attained a privileged life because of her gifts. Heck, the majority of you who read this are partly responsible for her privileges, so to complain when she uses them is a little hypocritical.

Some people are also highly concerned with the fact that Madonna is taking a child from his native land and his lone parent. Yet those who make that argument probably are not living below their nation's poverty line, in an orphanage and are probably not without the resources to educate and better themselves. But those are the conditions that the orphaned Malawi native, David Blanda, are in. Also, the father of the child cannot take care of little David and wants his child to be adopted by Madonna so that the boy can have a life that he probably never would have attained by remaining in an orphanage in Malawi for the better part of his childhood. David is not only going to have a good life, but now he is going to have a great life. And while this isn't the typical rags to riches stories nor the American dream, little David is going to be living in lap of luxury after being all but guaranteed to live of life of many deficiencies had he remained in Malawi.

There are also those who believe that Madonna has adopted little David in order to generate some publicity. Madonna? With a publicity stunt? Are you crazy? What on Earth would she need to do a publicity stunt for? She is not one of those celebrities who have been caught up in drugs, or who has gotten arrested every Saturday night for the past 13 years. She is Madonna! She is a pop-culture icon and somebody who transcends publicity. She doesn't need publicity. People who need publicity are people who are looking for work, and she doesn't need work. She gets paid more to write a soundtrack for a movie than the average person would make in 10 lifetimes. So don't tell me she is looking for publicity. You are talking about a woman who is famous for re-inventing her image every 30 seconds. She changes styles like a chameleon changes colors. If she wants publicity, she'll chop off her hair, wear a rodeo hat at her next performance and start a rodeo clown clothing line right after.

Can't we just let Madonna be? She is not breaking any law by adopting the child. She went through the proper legal channels to adopt a child that does not usually allow for a child to be adopted by foreigners.

Did she drop some dollars in order to make it happen?

Probably. But so what?

You tip waiters for good service, and you give the maitre d' a couple bucks to get seated at your table sooner, so what's the big deal?

The big deal is that people need to let a good thing be and not try and twist it into something that it is not. When is this society going to realize that not every good deed is not a ploy to cover up something bad? I know it's hard to believe, but some people actually do good things because they get joy from making others happy. What a concept, huh?

-Uzo Ometu