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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 07/14/2007 : 04:35:42 AM
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Just wanted to share this with you....
Wanda
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For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time.
Ben Stein's Last Column...
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How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?
As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end..
It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.
Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.
How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.
They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq . He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.
A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.
A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad .
The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.
We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.
I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.
There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.
Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.
I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.
But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.
This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York . I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.
Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.
By Ben Stein
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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javeiro
Lokahi
USA
459 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2007 : 05:17:21 AM
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I was not familiar with Ben Stein or his writing at all, Wanda, but that was a powerful column. Why does it seem to take many of us so much of our lives to realize what the most important things in life really are?
Mahalo for posting it. |
Aloha,
John A. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2007 : 07:28:08 AM
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| Ben Stein is that sterotypical boring, dull, geeky guy you have probably seen in commercials with the dull monotone voice. He had a TV show, if think, called Who wants to win Ben Stein's money. I did not know he wrote a column, either, but I was sent this e-mail by my sister-in-law who thought it was quite powerful. No matter when the widsom of a lesson is learned, if it is learned at all, then good. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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LovinLK
Lokahi
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 09:12:28 AM
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| Boring, dull and geeky is a real good description of him. |
Lovin' Lee is my favorite pasttime!!
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 5:23:52 PM
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Life is boring because of the dull repetitous chores that need to be done regularly, but someone has to do them. Life is nerdish because at times we are emotionally unprepared for the tasks that demand our attention. Life is geeky because we know in our hearts that we really don't fit in. We prepare by doing. We muddle through. Hopefully we realize that we can make a difference in our personal interactions with others. That's why jamming is important. We begin to fit in, we make a contribution to the music, we share. The dullness of practice pays off in jamming.
The Bible says that we're like grass, green one day, withered the next. All the more important to value those we are with. |
Edited by - thumbstruck on 07/15/2007 5:25:12 PM |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2007 : 1:05:07 PM
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| Yah mon, we be jammin. I am saddened by the fact that people are stars in actions that could have been prevented had saner minds prevailed. I agree that our heroes rise to the occasion when needed and in times of crises are dependable. But it is seemingly un-necessary to go out and look for trouble in the wrong places. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2007 : 1:09:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
Ben Stein's Last Column...
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I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values
Unfortunately, due to his years as a speechwriter and lawyer for Richard Nixon, I credit Mr. Stein as being part of the team that sent us down this path of "poor values" over thirty years ago. He has been a long-time supporter of President Bush and the policies that brought us into the situations he speaks of in this column, which strikes me as hypocritical. He still believes that our troops are in Iraq due to some connection to the 9/11 attacks. (He said so in a 2004 column in which he faulted the American media for its coverage of Abu Ghraib prison incidents.)
As for his career as a performer in film and on television, I lost interest in his "values" when he made racially-offensive statements on his show, "Win Ben Stein's Money," regarding anatomical stereotypes of Asian women.
IMHO. YMMV. |
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Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2007 : 2:27:31 PM
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Well said Retro...
I always find it interesting that those who most loudly trumpet "higher moral values" often in reality exhibit extremely low moral values.
For instance, another character, let's call him "Flush Limburger" (the man with half a brain tied behind his back and the other half moronic) comes to mind, with his tirades against potheads, only to be found to be a very serious addict, of much more serious drugs, himself.
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Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2007 : 3:51:19 PM
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| Them what screams the loudest scream from looking within and projecting upon others. Slack will be cut those cutting slack. It's a most difficult thing to be considerate of those we perceive as "different", but we dump "fiery coals upon the heads of our enemies" by kindness. As flawed as Ben Stein is, he still makes a valid point about ohana. Learning to be human is a life time challenge, we all fail many times. Hopefully we grow. Shakespeare's "salad days" refer to when a person is young, cold and green. (I still can't figger out the 'puter!) As my bro says, "We all look at life from our own funhouse mirror." My Dad said, "Talk is cheap, but money buys the whiskey." Growth hurts. |
Edited by - thumbstruck on 07/17/2007 3:57:11 PM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 01:40:46 AM
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Regardless of Ben Stein's shortcomings, to me the important point here is that there is nothing hero-like about Paris Hilton type folks, whose only claim to fame is that the & her family are rich and she drives under the influence.
And the other point is the selflessness and heroism of those folks in the military who volunteered to do this work, whether the war is in your opinion a proper war or not. This is a purely volunteer military now -- no draft. I had a co-worker who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in Viet Nam. He was drafted. He did not choose to join the 101st ABN, they chose him. One day his unit was under fire and they shot up every bit of ammunition they had. The VC lobbed a grenade at them AND HE THREW HIS BODY ON IT to save those around him. An amazing miracle is that he lived to tell about it. There are very few LIVE recipients of a Medal of Honor. I asked hom once how he could ever think of doing such a thing and he told me that he didn't think...he just reacted. He said if he had to THINK about it, he never would have done it.
God Bless Frank Herda for savings those peoples lives. http://www.mishalov.com/Herda.html
Most of the time you find those who preach the loudest, like Flush Limburger, have plenty skeletons in the closet. None of them are perfect (none of us are), but just about everyone has something worthwhile to say sometimes...even if only part of it is worth paying attention to.
Plus I found out on snopes.com that this Ben Stein thing is about 3 or 4 years old already. I just got it from my sister-in-law, who really likes to forward around just about every kind of junk mail you can imagine. Sometimes there are a few points worth considering and pondering, though.
I thought this was worth posting because I was sure it would develop conversation, whether fer or agin', whether discussed here on TP or not...I bet some of you talked about it. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 02:20:45 AM
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| If everyone just played guitar, who'd play the ukulele? |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 06:31:22 AM
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Some of us have ADD and play a little kika then a little ookoolele, then a little kika. And when we play ki ho'alu we play in one tuning for two songs, then another tuning for a song, then another tuning. Nice when we can stop for a little while and show someone else what little we do know so they can enjoy and share the music.
but to get back to the original topic . ..
I like what St Francis of Assisi said, 'Preach the Gospel at all times, and if you must, use words.' (paraphrased) |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 08:38:11 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
And the other point is the selflessness and heroism of those folks in the military who volunteered to do this work, whether the war is in your opinion a proper war or not.
Of course. It's just that Mr. Stein has regularly shown that he supports the policies that put our troops into these harmful and deadly situations, and that's why his words of praise ring hollow to me. |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 5:31:34 PM
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I used to work with a guy, now that I think of it, who was genuinely crazy. He shouldn't have been given the job he had. We shared similar ethnicity and I regularly cooked Swedish pea soup (no puns, Retro) and shared with him. He was still crazy and inept at his job, but on a personal level, watching him reminisce about his childhood over the soup, he was tolerable, pleasant even. We humans are our own worst disappointment. Not enough soup.
Here's a point to ponder: The Mid-West: Lots of polkas, little unrest. The Mid-East: Lots of unrest, no polkas. Dare we connect the dots? |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 7:53:02 PM
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| "Connect-The-Dots Polka" - you need to write that tune, thumbstruck. |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2007 : 10:44:01 PM
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I can't control my world nor can I have any power over people, places, and things. I try not to judge others and I am imperfect in that effort.But I do do believe in LOVE and I've never been to war and I never will.
When we leave things to politicians we get what we deserve. Being forgiving can be the greatest spiritual endeavor we may ever undertake. But each person's journey is strictly personal and none of it is my business. I think we can play music and play nice too. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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