Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Of Causes and Cut-throats

So many things have been happening! I'm going to write a more comprehensive post on the Utah Renaissance Festival and Fantasy Faire a bit later, but I wanted to address a few things that have been weighing on my mind a bit.

Firstly, there has been a growing trend in the mermaid community looking down on mermaid who do things "just for kids." For some reason, if a mermaid markets herself mainly towards children's events it is seen as cheapening herself or mermaids in general. While I agree that mermaids are not strictly "kids stuff," I disagree that interactions with children are worth less than modeling gigs, adult festivals, and other such events. I have been told recently that I'm not a true mermaid because, as someone put it, "[I] don't have a cause." Many mermaids have causes that they use their mersona to bring awareness of. For some, it's environmentalism. For some, it's sexual orientation/lack thereof. For others it's diet or exercise. While I teach about a few of these things (not sexual orientation, I have my opinions but keep my mersona OUT of that rigamarole), these are not my cause. But I want to let that critic and everyone else know right now: I do have a cause.

My cause is kids.

My cause is bringing magic, wonder, and joy into children's lives. I love seeing them happy, seeing their faces light up and knowing for just one hour or one minute magic touched their life. I love hearing their stories and they love that I listen to them. I love to let them teach me. It's amazing what comes out of a child's heart when they know that there is someone who is willing to listen, or who they can help. I know that a lot of children are forced to deal with harsh reality all too soon, and I love to take them out of that for a while. I love to teach them about the ocean and animals, I love to swim with them. The kids know I'm here for them, and that's why they tend to gravitate towards me. And if anyone thinks that touching a child's life for the better is in some way cheap or unworthy of my time, that's just too bad.

This is why when I go swimming I will always stop and talk to a child. It may lose me some exercise time, it may lose me a bit of time with my mersisters, it may even lose me an advertising opportunity. But I'll never consider it a waste of my time. This is also why I volunteer with local hospitals and long-term child care centers. I love going in and helping the kids feel better in what must be a horrible time for them. Could it take time away from updating my facebook or blog or from a paying party? Sure. But it's worth it.

Now on to a less uplifting topic: I'm disturbed by the cut-throat business attitudes I am seeing by some mermaids around me. When I got into mermaiding I believed that mermaids helped each other, that we were all part of a big mer-family. I met some mer-friends who helped me a bunch, and others that weren't quite so friendly. Recently, I've become aware of some "business strategies" that some mermaids are using, and although I may know and like the mer as a friend (sometimes I don't know them, please know that this isn't always the case) I cannot support these hurtful practices. I know that mermaiding professionally is a limited market, but many of us are in different areas and have different interests. Surely there is enough space in the state for us all!

So. It is NOT okay to tell children to look for flaws in someone's tail to tell if they're "a real mermaid." It is NOT okay to tell them that "real mermaids" have certain qualities that only you possess. It is NOT okay to compare your undisclosed price to other mermaids who have given a flexible starting point and imply that they're not willing to work with the client. It is not okay to step on someone to try and get ahead in this "business." We shouldn't seek to "corner the market" in a city or pool or aquarium. Instead, we should seek to open the doors to our mer-friends.

I'm reminded of the new HTC One commercials. Instead of advertising their phone, they focus most of their time on negatively portraying other phones. Even their tagline reads: "Everything your phone isn't." When did "advertising" become just "I'm going to tell you why everyone else is bad/false/scammers?" This isn't advertising. This is just gossip, petty and mean. I understand that mers need to promote their business. So feel free! Hand out cards, go places, talk with people about your causes, what you do, what you offer! But don't do anything you wouldn't want done to you, and please don't negatively portray another mer. We're all from the same big ocean, we all love what we do. Don't make it harder for anymer.

No comments:

Post a Comment