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Should've Never Switched from Scotch to Martinis
Posted by Ryan R.
on
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The moment you've been waiting for all day. The man, the legend himself Nathan P. Repp, has finally left his mark on PQLC. Enjoy!
I am prone to hero worship. I want to be better. I want guidance.
Isn’t that why we all choose people to idolize? We’re all stumbling around in the dark and when we’ve found someone with a light we go towards it. They’ve found their way and we’re hoping we can find ours too, by following them. But it’s not that easy is it? This labyrinth that is life is constantly shifting and we can’t always go the same way. We each have to find our own way. But don’t give up on your heroes. Let them instead be your star. That one star in the sky that lets you know where you are and how far you’ve come. You might find that it’s not the brightest or that it’s the farthest away but at least it’s a point of reference. Even the tiniest star sheds light. There have been many stars in my sky. Many candles lit in my house. But I’ve found one in particular that burns with a forceful resonance that demands to be noticed. They weren’t always great and they failed in many regards but remember, we’re not looking for a trail, we’re looking for an entire map and even mistakes add to the topography of life.
His name was Humphrey Bogart. The go to guy for cool in the 1940’s. Classic movie star (starring in Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and many others) with an Oscar under his belt (for The African Queen). And though the allure of Hollywood has always caught my eye, this is not why he is my hero.
He is my hero because despite that fact he came from a privileged family, he went against their plans for him to follow a craft.
He is my hero because he wasn’t born an actor, he worked hard for it.
He is my hero because he was a poor student but quoted Plato, Emerson, and Shakespeare in day to day life and was near Grand Master level in Chess.
He is my hero because he drank too much and smoked too much and was diagnosed with throat cancer.
He is my hero because even though John Wayne hardly knew him, he sent flowers anyway.
He is my hero because he died unfulfilled; he always wanted to do Shakespeare but thought no one would take him seriously.
He is my hero because he was a person and not an idol. Bogie doesn’t have all the answers for me but he has a life’s work of experience for me to draw my own answers from. If I had to conclude all of this it would be to say this:
Your heroes did great things that still need doing but made mistakes so you don’t have to. Don’t waste the life they lived by living the same one.
“It is at least worth arguing that there is a modicum of the creative novelist in all of us, and that this absorption with how men get out of difficulties, single-handedly and alone if possible, is the stuff of which we weave the warp and woof of our own better dramatic imaginings.”
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I am prone to hero worship. I want to be better. I want guidance.
Isn’t that why we all choose people to idolize? We’re all stumbling around in the dark and when we’ve found someone with a light we go towards it. They’ve found their way and we’re hoping we can find ours too, by following them. But it’s not that easy is it? This labyrinth that is life is constantly shifting and we can’t always go the same way. We each have to find our own way. But don’t give up on your heroes. Let them instead be your star. That one star in the sky that lets you know where you are and how far you’ve come. You might find that it’s not the brightest or that it’s the farthest away but at least it’s a point of reference. Even the tiniest star sheds light. There have been many stars in my sky. Many candles lit in my house. But I’ve found one in particular that burns with a forceful resonance that demands to be noticed. They weren’t always great and they failed in many regards but remember, we’re not looking for a trail, we’re looking for an entire map and even mistakes add to the topography of life.
His name was Humphrey Bogart. The go to guy for cool in the 1940’s. Classic movie star (starring in Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and many others) with an Oscar under his belt (for The African Queen). And though the allure of Hollywood has always caught my eye, this is not why he is my hero.
He is my hero because despite that fact he came from a privileged family, he went against their plans for him to follow a craft.
He is my hero because he wasn’t born an actor, he worked hard for it.
He is my hero because he was a poor student but quoted Plato, Emerson, and Shakespeare in day to day life and was near Grand Master level in Chess.
He is my hero because he drank too much and smoked too much and was diagnosed with throat cancer.
He is my hero because even though John Wayne hardly knew him, he sent flowers anyway.
He is my hero because he died unfulfilled; he always wanted to do Shakespeare but thought no one would take him seriously.
He is my hero because he was a person and not an idol. Bogie doesn’t have all the answers for me but he has a life’s work of experience for me to draw my own answers from. If I had to conclude all of this it would be to say this:
Your heroes did great things that still need doing but made mistakes so you don’t have to. Don’t waste the life they lived by living the same one.
“It is at least worth arguing that there is a modicum of the creative novelist in all of us, and that this absorption with how men get out of difficulties, single-handedly and alone if possible, is the stuff of which we weave the warp and woof of our own better dramatic imaginings.”
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