The Celebrity Lie

The Celebrity Lie

Brian WilliamsThis week, the media shredded NBC News Anchor Brian Williams for telling tall tales. His embellishments and fabrications may have fatality tarnished his credibility.

Host Anderson Cooper said Williams’ tales, which included seeing a body float by his hotel and facing roving gangs during Hurricane Katrina, don’t sound like simple misremberings because every one of them make Williams sound brave and bolstered his standing.

Bernard Goldberg said there are only two possible reasons for Williams’ stories. “One is that he’s delusional. I mean…mental illness. And the other is that he just flat-out lies a lot. If he simply lies a lot, it’s because that’s what celebrities do all the time. They go on TV shows, and they make up stories, because in the United States of entertainment…being uninteresting is the greatest sin you could commit,” he said.

wild adventure

wild adventure

You’ve heard the news, perhaps ad nauseam. My point in writing about this sad demise of an otherwise nice man is to point out something humanly deep that lurks in all of us. Continue reading

Internal Bearings

Internal Bearings

One evening, I tuned into a TV drama. I watched a female character succumb to an affair—a disappointing compromise. She was restless and discontent. Her lover questioned her about what she really needed. In effect, she said…ask me what I think and feel—all day—every day—for a long time.

Her comment struck me. I know what it’s like to feel invisible. Maybe you do too.

When others don’t give us “place,” we can’t necessarily alter their mindsets. And yet, in a way, finding place has more to do with us than them.

Dorothy travelled a long yellow-brick road to find her way home, but the change in her heart was her ticket all along. Rosa Parks reached a tipping point and claimed her bus seat. Her God-given confidence set in motion a movement that would give others their rightful place.

George WashingtonGeorge Washington relinquished a place of power by refusing to be a king. He wanted freedom from tyrannical rulers for our country. And that decision released a new thing in the world—a government by the people, for the people.

What’s the same in these examples? Continue reading