I did not watch Miss Universe on Monday night. I can honestly say that I didn’t know it was on. If I did, I probably would’ve caught some portion of it; you know just to brush up on geography, of course.
While I was busy watching Matt Leinart not complete passes in the preseason edition of Monday Night Football, millions of viewers had the chance to see one of the finalists in the pageant claim that she has not made any “major major mistakes” in her 22 years of life. This finalist was Miss Philippines — Maria Venus Raj (in case you’re wondering, here’s a photo of Miss Raj). She came in fourth and that controversial answer may have had something to do with her not being crowned Miss Universe (Miss Mexico won. Once again, there were zero contestants representing any of the other planets in the universe. Earth owns this thing!).
This answer was a pretty big deal. The phrase “major major” was even a trending topic on Twitter.
I didn’t really put a whole lot of thought into Raj’s answer. It’s not like it was in the same league as Miss Teen South Carolina.
That was before I read this column by the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri. Petri masterfully connects Miss Philippines’ answer to the New York Times’ description of the current state of us 20-somethings.
Petri writes: “We have no major major problems. We have no regrets because we have never really had to, well, do anything. Raj’s remark could become the manifesto of our so-called boomerang generation.”
I sure hope “No Major Major Mistakes” doesn’t become the manifesto of my generation, but it just might. Unlike Raj, I’d be happy to admit that I have made some major major mistakes. Actually, maybe I wouldn’t be happy to admit that but I would admit it.
I’m going to go put together a list of my major major mistakes. Maybe I’ll share it with you, but that might be another major major mistake.
It’d be a major major mistake if you didn’t read Petri’s column. Please do so.
