Blog 258 – 03.25.2016

Hypocrite means actor, pretender. And like rain you hear a lot of bad talk about hypocrites and if I may be so bold a lot of ignorant talk. One of the most beloved Presidents in my life time was a professional actor. At the very least he knew how to carry himself in front of a camera and could deliver his lines well. Both great skills for any politician or President in the days since TV. I said in a blog on Monday called powerful voices that many people think Reagan’s should be the fifth face on Mount Rushmore along side Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. I said my vote would go to another actor President, Morgan Freeman for his role in the movie Deep Impact.

We all act, pretend, especially when we don’t know how to act. I just spoke with a friend who was complaining about some “well to do” people who were acting snooty at a wedding she attended recently. I told her to quiet her own thoughts and just watch and she would see through the act to the insecurities behind it and probably feel a lot more like crying for them than having hard feelings toward them. I think that is why Jesus was able to pray, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Many of the actors and actresses that have touched my life the most became great because they had to pretend so much in their off screen or stage lives that they got quite good at it. Acting isn’t all negative. Try acting happy when you’re sad. You just might fool yourself or prime the pump. “Fake it till you make it”, “Dress for success”, and “Assume the role you want to play”, are all good advice for people who want to improve, succeed, or get ahead.

I heard a song yesterday by Harry Chapin back when he still called himself Harry about a poor stoner taxi driver named Harry who picks up a fare, a rich “snooty” lady, whom he immediately recognized and she remembers him only later after finally looking at him and the name on his license. They had once been lovers when they were young. She says, “How are you, Harry? And I said, How are you, Sue. Through the too many miles and the too little smiles, I still remember you.” At the close of the song Harry modified the repeated chorus a little to: “She was gonna be an actress and I was gonna learn to fly. Now she’s pretending to be happy and me I’m taking tips and getting high.”

Actors, hypocrites all but soon our walk on in life’s play will be over. And someday, I think, a curtain call will take place, not for the critics but for the Author, Director, and Real Star of the Show.

Your friend and fellow traveler, and actor,
David White