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The Academy Award(R) for living
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On first glance, the Academy Awards(R) are ridiculous. It seems like they're saying lets make the biggest deal about people who contribute the least to society. Let's give awards to people who will be the first to tell you that what they do is not brain surgery but basically playing, having fun and making a lot of money for it, though 99 percent of them barely make a living at it.
But the first thing that anyone has to remember before they write and speak is that we’re all just a bunch of human beings trying to make the best of our lives and it is not my role, pun intended, to judge anyone harshly once I’ve determined that they’re not trying to do harm to me and those I care about. Rodney King was a very flawed messenger for a very pure message – “Can’t we all just get along?”
The role of actors is to give voice to writers and help them to take on reality and show it to us so that we can learn and make our contribution to “this thing of ours,” the meaning of La Cosa Nostra, but here I’m using it as an homage to gangster movies and to refer to Life, this thing of ours that must be honored with love and peace and contributions and sacrifice and giving our best. The Academy Awards® used to make me angry for many reasons, just like being stuck in traffic did. But just as the day that I realized that the jackass cutting me off might be on the way to the hospital to see a sick love one – might! – was the day I realized that spirituality was practical in helping me enjoy life more by being less angry and, therefore, healthier and more long lived, now that the Academy Awards don’t make me angry anymore is further proof that I’m continuing to grow.
Acting is one of the three Holy Sciences of the Hindu culture because the actor mirrors the Spirit playing the individual role of our lives. I wish all actors well and the ability to use their talents.
So let's give actors the awards and let's watch the TV hosts obsess about the way they dress - they could not dress more boringly, especially given the many, many wonderful fashions that are available today from genius designers (OK, like my beautiful wife's "Spiritual Couture!") and live and think and play and, for some of them, let’s learn by watching them destroy themselves. It's like NASCAR for those who don't like noise and speed. Let's watch the celebrities crack up.
And let's give them awards. Not doctors and nurses and farmers and fathers and cops and military personnel and scientists and mathematicians and mothers and teachers and clerk typists and receptionists and sales people and carpenters and tile layers and steam fitters and truck drivers and taxi drivers and hotel doormen and stewardesses and baggage handlers and delivery people and long shoreman and heavy equipment operators and grandmothers and tailors and dry cleaners and grandfathers and chefs and waitresses and food service workers and ranchers and aunts and fast food workers and uncles and friends and veterinary service workers and the other people who make life possible and enjoyable. No, give the awards with the most hoopla imaginable to ACTORS are in the spotlight getting awards for doing what they do, most of them doing it because, by their own admission, they are the most insecure people in the world, far to many of them as a group are people who don't know who they are. Until the Civil Right’s movement, there were hotels and rooming houses who wouldn’t rent to actors and musicians! Now they’re worshipped. Perseverance, it’s the only thing that counts. One day you’re a pariah, the next day you’re an award winner for acting like a pariah. But hey, no one's perfect and I have the best life and I wish everyone well. We’re all in this together so let’s have fun. And if you can watch the show without obsessing (too much) about why no one's giving most people any awards no matter how well they do their job, well, you're on the Spiritual Path! |
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