Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thoreau was wrong. We're living lives of strident desperation.

Once again, I shouldn't be surprised by the story behind the story these days. In a matter of days, we were media-anxious (which is light years away from personal-anxious but still...) about the fate of one Abby Sunderland, then relieved to find she had escaped injury (or death) and then - if you're like me - jaded and thinking more along the lines of "what the..." when you read the story about her family and the reality show that was, then wasn't, to be.

As a friend so colorfully expresses frustration, "Christ on a bike." Is everyone craving that much validation? Have we all given up our lives of quiet desperation for something more outlandish?

Every bit of me hopes that's not true. But you knew I'd have to write about it, so here you go. Today's Daily Caller column. Written with love and great admiration
(really) for the young men who inspired a great deal of it. And inspire me daily.

Enjoy.

2 comments:

Richard said...

I'm still living in quiet desperation, if it makes you feel any better. Illustrated by what's to follow:

When I read the piece on the Daily Caller site, I saw a "related story" below your column. I suppose their site somehow picks what's "related" based on keywords in your story - who knows. This related story was about Harrison Ford (67) getting married to Calista Flockhart (45). Sorry to go off-topic, but what is it with celebrity marriages? Ford got married the first time a year before Flockhart was born. This is apparently his 3rd marriage. Are there 2 parallel Americas? One where some of us plan to die married to our 1st spouse, the other where marriages don't last as long as a cheap set of tires? (I know that's a really poor analogy, but I feel woozy after reading the wedding story.)

renee said...

Hi Richard -
Nice to see your name in my inbox again!

I can't explain celebrity marriages aplenty either. Maybe it's like Rose says in "Moonstruck." Maybe some men fear death. And a young wife creates an illusion of youth.

Of course that doesn't explain why a younger woman is interested in someone a generation removed from her. The allure of stardom and all that comes with it with the Hollywood couples, I guess.

But sure - there are parallel Americas. It's just that years ago, everyone knew the one in southern California was fake. Now too many people think it's real.

And we're back...to reality TV and why it's sucking the life out of all of us.