The tinsel and garland are long ago packed away again (well, except maybe in the odd luxury trailer park), the big ball has dropped, the returns and refunds people have pretty much gotten that deer in the headlights look out of their eyes, anxious wage earners are watching the mail box for the W2, so they can get about the business of roping in that refund and…with the coming and going of Martin Luther King Day, we’ve already experienced the first of many Federal holidays that will spotlight our tax dollars at work throughout the year.
Yes, kids, it is officially, and most verifiably, the New Year.
2008.
By the way, not to wander off the page too far, but has it occurred to anyone else that, according to what we were shown in the fifties and sixties, we’re supposed to be wearing those shiny silver jumpsuits and driving around in hover cars by now? Yet here we are, in the year 2008, wearing flip flops, ratty old blue jeans and driving around in the same POS Toyota Camry. And three dollar a gallon gas doesn’t count as “progress”.
That aside, the new year offers us all a new slate. New goals. New ambition. New hope. And new challenges.
Can we lose weight? Get healthier? Make more money? Make any money? Spend more time with the kids? Make more money by spending more time with the kids?
The list goes on.
But, by now, many of us have likely turned our attention to answering the question that really matters in today’s culture.
Which celebrity is going to make the “big comeback” in 2008?
First, I think we can safely rule out Heath Ledger. (RIP, buddy, no disrespect intended)
And Bob Barker probably doesn’t have a shot. But most people already probably think that Drew Carey has always hosted “The Price Is Right”.
And while I think it’s obvious to everyone that Britney Spears represents the best possibility for the most dramatic celebrity comeback (because, at this point, the odds are way stacked against it happening), I have a personal wish, or hope if you will, about which celebrity should emerge from the shadows of obscurity and be celebrated with a return to the brightest of spotlights.
Are you ready?
Have I manufactured just the right amount of suspense and anticipation?
Do you want to hear the name?
Sorry.
There is no name to share. It’s not a Britney or a Lindsay or a Paris or a Michael.
For while I certainly wish none of those celebrities, or any of their ilk, any ill will, neither do I wish for them one single second longer in the spotlight. Because, frankly, my dear, they’ve squandered their time in the light and used up their fifteen minutes.
The “big celebrity comeback” of 2008 need not be a person.
It needs to be an attitude.
A celebration of any and all celebrities who understand the precious gift they have received in this life and the amazing power for doing good things that their celebrity affords them.
A recognition of any and all celebrities, past, present or future, who realize the deep and lasting impact their fame has on millions of everyday people, of all ages, and who use that fame, to the best of their abilities to inspire…or energize…or motivate…
Or in an absolute worst case, just keep their weaknesses and shortcomings to themselves, their families and their therapists and respect the power they possess by not abusing it…or worse, flaunting it.
I’m not really a pie in the sky, Kumbayah, we are the world kind of guy. I fully understand the flaws of our humanness possessing, as I do, a sizable number of them.
But I believe that investing our admiration in “celebrities” who are, at the end of the day, poor bearers of the power they possess is a failing.
And a lost opportunity to make the world just a little less depleted of light, hope and energy than it is becoming.
Compassion and best wishes for the Britneys? Without hesitation.
Further worship of them and their status?
Thanks…but no thanks.
We’ve been blinded by the wrong lights for too long already.
Lights that illuminate nothing. And merely conceal the darkness.
It’s past time we concern ourselves with any one celebrity making a “comeback”
Instead, it’s time to celebrate those who respect the gift of that celebrity.
Yes, kids, it is officially, and most verifiably, the New Year.
2008.
By the way, not to wander off the page too far, but has it occurred to anyone else that, according to what we were shown in the fifties and sixties, we’re supposed to be wearing those shiny silver jumpsuits and driving around in hover cars by now? Yet here we are, in the year 2008, wearing flip flops, ratty old blue jeans and driving around in the same POS Toyota Camry. And three dollar a gallon gas doesn’t count as “progress”.
That aside, the new year offers us all a new slate. New goals. New ambition. New hope. And new challenges.
Can we lose weight? Get healthier? Make more money? Make any money? Spend more time with the kids? Make more money by spending more time with the kids?
The list goes on.
But, by now, many of us have likely turned our attention to answering the question that really matters in today’s culture.
Which celebrity is going to make the “big comeback” in 2008?
First, I think we can safely rule out Heath Ledger. (RIP, buddy, no disrespect intended)
And Bob Barker probably doesn’t have a shot. But most people already probably think that Drew Carey has always hosted “The Price Is Right”.
And while I think it’s obvious to everyone that Britney Spears represents the best possibility for the most dramatic celebrity comeback (because, at this point, the odds are way stacked against it happening), I have a personal wish, or hope if you will, about which celebrity should emerge from the shadows of obscurity and be celebrated with a return to the brightest of spotlights.
Are you ready?
Have I manufactured just the right amount of suspense and anticipation?
Do you want to hear the name?
Sorry.
There is no name to share. It’s not a Britney or a Lindsay or a Paris or a Michael.
For while I certainly wish none of those celebrities, or any of their ilk, any ill will, neither do I wish for them one single second longer in the spotlight. Because, frankly, my dear, they’ve squandered their time in the light and used up their fifteen minutes.
The “big celebrity comeback” of 2008 need not be a person.
It needs to be an attitude.
A celebration of any and all celebrities who understand the precious gift they have received in this life and the amazing power for doing good things that their celebrity affords them.
A recognition of any and all celebrities, past, present or future, who realize the deep and lasting impact their fame has on millions of everyday people, of all ages, and who use that fame, to the best of their abilities to inspire…or energize…or motivate…
Or in an absolute worst case, just keep their weaknesses and shortcomings to themselves, their families and their therapists and respect the power they possess by not abusing it…or worse, flaunting it.
I’m not really a pie in the sky, Kumbayah, we are the world kind of guy. I fully understand the flaws of our humanness possessing, as I do, a sizable number of them.
But I believe that investing our admiration in “celebrities” who are, at the end of the day, poor bearers of the power they possess is a failing.
And a lost opportunity to make the world just a little less depleted of light, hope and energy than it is becoming.
Compassion and best wishes for the Britneys? Without hesitation.
Further worship of them and their status?
Thanks…but no thanks.
We’ve been blinded by the wrong lights for too long already.
Lights that illuminate nothing. And merely conceal the darkness.
It’s past time we concern ourselves with any one celebrity making a “comeback”
Instead, it’s time to celebrate those who respect the gift of that celebrity.
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