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| Subject: Re: "Monday Night At Mortons" salutes the troops | |
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Author: No name (amen to that) |
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Date Posted: 22:02:33 09/14/06 Thu In reply to: Steve Dietrich 's message, ""Monday Night At Mortons" salutes the troops" on 07:39:28 08/17/05 Wed >Apologies for the length. I was tempted to edit the >last line so as to offend none, but left it as the >autor wrote it. The author expresses what a lot of us >believe. You don't see us on TV but we are there, >thankful every day for your courage, skills and >sacrifice. You are truly America's best. THANKS > >******************************************************* >***** > >For many years Ben Stein has written a bi-weekly >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. > >============================================ > >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, 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. > >We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on >the covers of our magazines. The non-coms and >officers who barely scrape by on military pay, but >stand on guard in war zones 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 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. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |