The Bachelorette - a hard lesson to learn

Poor Ashley on The Bachelorette, but what a lesson to single women out there. My daughter and I were watching the show but I was a little distracted by a delayed things to do list. I was off cleaning and organizing while Bentley was breaking Ashley's heart and filling her head with self promoting lies. The DVR became the appliance that allowed for one of those mother daughter touchpoint lessons on narcissistic men. It was painful to watch Bentley look into the camera and say he wanted a rose and got it and basically he wanted Ashley to fall in love with him but he wasn't into her. I don't have a problem with him not being into Ashley and admitting it and leaving because of it. He would have gained the admiration of the viewers out there if he had been honest and had not led Ashley on. It's not easy to break someones heart even if in the long run it is for the best. My heart was breaking for Ashley and my daughter was making me watch the recording because she felt this was an injustice. You see the question going through my mind was at what point does the producer or host feel this mind game can have real long term repercussions and take her aside to let her know what "really" is going on? Yes, she signed up for this and I get that just like we continue in bad relationships. However, most of us have friends who warn us, we have family who caution us when someone is taking advantage of us, and we have real life situations where the friends of the date might step forward with unkind news. When the men were roasting Ashley I was wondering who came up with this idea and why isn't anyone thinking to take the high road for her instead of wanting to impress the guys? On many levels I was bothered by the unfavorable mind games of Season 7. Reality television lends itself to this drama I know and Ashley seemed up to the challenge again of putting it all out there. I kept repeating, "Now that Emily and Brad are over, maybe he'll show up for Ashley since she's ready to put it all out there." However this show may go, and whatever it is doing for ratings, I just hope someone out there has their moral compass pointing in the right direction.

© 2011 Savannah Jones