I’ve been thinking a lot about celebrity lately; about how many of us aspire to be like them and how many of us let them determine our views on a myriad of subjects. We let them determine how we believe without taking the time to form our own opinions. It’s as if, because they are celebrities, they are wiser and more knowledgeable than we are.
I thought of this while I was stirring the peanut butter this morning, mixing the oil which had separated back into the ground peanuts. I was thinking of the Women’s March in Washington and all of the celebrities who attended and made speeches. My first thought was, “I wonder if Madonna has ever stirred peanut butter for her morning spread on toast?” My guess is not. I doubt that she cooks her own eggs or pours her own milk very often.Regardless of your political leanings, you have to admit that celebrity is how we ended up with Trump for president. When the original show “The Apprentice”, which featured ordinary people vying for a job failed to amuse people any longer, the show became “Celebrity Apprentice”, with contestants who were celebrities competing for contributions to their favorite charities. Of course, many of these so-called celebrities were already has-beens, having had their day in the sun, but being unable to fade gracefully into the sunset, they were willing to play for the camera once more.
It is the almighty camera that all celebrities are vying for. It’s almost as if the camera has become their god. They will gain fifty pounds in order play a certain role and then turn around and lose a hundred for another. There is very little real about all those we consider celebrities. They have whatever they need at their disposal to make them more attractive than the average person: Botox, liposuction, makeup artists, hair stylists, wardrobe specialists and Photoshop if all else fails. But they are smart. Somehow they have convinced us that their life is real and ours is not. They’ve convinced all of us that our lives are shallow compared to theirs, that their concerns are more valuable than ours, and that their lifestyle is to be envied and emulated above all others.
That’s not to say that throughout history there haven’t been persons who deserved our admiration, but they were never movie or television stars. When I was in college, my friends were astonished that I was not afraid of growing old. “Why should I be?” I would ask, “The only women I have admired throughout my life have all been older women.” I was referring to my grandmother, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Theresa, none of whom would have been considered beautiful by our standards today, but all of whom possessed an inner beauty that was unmistakable and unavoidable. The real women of celebrity were the “Rosie the Riveters” who kept the airplane factories running during the Second World War. They were and are the nurses that hold the hands of a dying patient and the teachers who make a difference in the life of a child. The real celebrities are the waitresses who serve cup after cup of coffee in the local diner or stand on their feet for hours on a factory assembly line in order to support their family.
And, true celebrity is not limited to women. There are the police and firemen who risk their lives daily in order to keep us safe. There is the local pastor who spends his days visiting the sick in hospitals. There are the postmen who deliver our mail come rain or shine and the guys who stand on the back of the trash truck in the most bitter weather to pick up our excess. There are the farmers and ranchers who maintain our plentiful food source. All of these men and women, who labor to make our lives better, are those who should be admired. They are just as bright and accomplished as those we hero worship. They have wisdom to impart and many do so on a daily basis. Although the world doesn’t pay much attention to what they have to say, they are the ones that keep this great nation running. They are the ones we need to survive. Unlike many of the present day celebrities who have been enticed by the organization that calls itself “Refuse Fascism”, these men and women are able to think for themselves. They are not trying to win a popularity poll. They are just carrying out the most mundane tasks of life, like mowing the lawn or making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their kids to take to school for lunch.