Oh the humanity

In my daily review of celebrity gossip, I came across Sandra Bullock's recent appearance at the MTV movie awards. It's hard to find a legitimate video of it, so I won't post here, but I was very struck by one thing she did (and no, not kissing Scarlett Johansson, though that had it's own charm): she told everyone that she loved her job.

It was a small moment, but one more celebrities should emulate. In the middle of a very public scandal, in the midst of total humiliation on a level most of us couldn't even dream of, she made a few jokes about what was going on and then essentially acknowledged "hey, I asked to be this famous, I love it, and even though this isn't fun, I still consider myself lucky". In an era when people are losing their jobs and struggling to make mortgage payments, it's nice to see a celebrity embroiled in personal issues stand up and say "nope, I'm actually one of the lucky ones thank you very much...I know it and you know it".

This seems unrelated to wrestling, but it's not. Last night, my brother (heretofore known as THE MARK) called me and asked me about my last post. He said it went over his head. "Basically" he said "I want to know why I should find Mick Foley interesting".

So here it is brother: Every time Mick Foley performs, he looks like he's having fun. He looks like he feels lucky. He's the hardcore legend: He bleeds in every match he's in, he limps, he's clearly been broken and bruised from the life he's lived. Every time he gets up there though, you can see he feels lucky. He repays us all by putting everything he has in to every performance. He's witty, he's funny, he's groundbreaking in ways that feel like one big "Thank you for watching".

Ultimately, isn't that what we all want in our famous faces? To see a person who dreamed about doing this, who feels they were born to entertain us? Someone who raises the bar, who becomes the standard for what we hold all celebrities to? Ultimately, a celebrity you feel you would actually like?

It's not until we see such a celebrity that we remember how often we like a celebrity's work without every wanting to encounter them in real life (are you listening Katherine Heigl? Jeff Hardy?). It's in those moments of seeing a celebrity so approachable, so human, that our forms of entertainment elevate themselves to something that can inspire, improve and give us hope for our species.

Last weekend I gave away a bookcase to a stranger through freecycle.org. She had a need, I had an extra bookcase, and in a small encounter, we reminded each other that strangers aren't always bad guys, that sometimes they are just regular people like us, trying to do the best they can. When someone makes millions of dollars and is known worldwide and can still give you that feeling....well, that's something worth watching.