Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Love Can Heal

“Know that truth, forgiveness, and love can heal the world. Imagine if all of us could be truthful with ourselves, start forgiving everyone, and start loving everyone. We would no longer be selfish, gossiping would be over, and we would no longer judge one another. The world would become a place where all of us live in love.”

I copied this quote from Facebook on Friday. I think it was from Don Miguel Ruiz. (Usually, I put the author of the quote and I missed it this time. My apologies to Don Miguel!)

When I opened my computer this morning to write a little about the Golden Globes, I saw it and it is a fitting opening to my blog for today. The quote talks about a place where LOVE reigns and where people forgive and live in truth.

Well, such was NOT the case last night at the Golden Globe Awards. Steve and I watched in horror as one after another of Ricky Gervais’ jokes sprayed the audience with a vile and mean-spirited type of humor. Last year, I remember laughing hysterically at some of his jokes, wincing at some and having a good time with the show. We LOVE movies and we see one movie a week, whether it’s at our local multi-plex or downtown Dallas at the Angelika or Magnolia. We REALLY love movies, mostly the independent films. Therefore, we enjoy the Golden Globes, because they tend to honor the small films that stand out in a world of 3D blockbusters and action films.

What I witnessed last night was totally over the line of good taste, decency and honor. Ricky blasted person after person, many times just before the person took the stage. Several times, I turned to Steve and asked, “Do you think that was scripted or was it an ad lib?”

Many comments were partially blanked out. The audio was just gone! Blank space where an expletive was said. When Ricky left the show at the half way mark and didn’t return for over an hour, we wondered if he had been fired. Some bloggers pointed out that many times, the host isn’t seen that much in the last half of the show. He did return and the tone seemed to have shifted a bit.

I guess he just seemed angry to me. Why else would someone IN the film and TV industry blast such mean-spirited and outright hostile comments at peers? He even made a very crude joke about the President of the HFPA.

In my family, teasing was not only tolerated, but often taken to a high form. I have been called many nicknames throughout my life, none of which are flattering or kind. When I questioned my Mom once, she just said they were “teasing.” And that it was “all in fun.”

One of the actors from The Social Club, Andrew Garfield said, 'He's been terribly nasty and horribly rude and I think he's genius.' Is this what our world has come to?

Robert Downy Jr. (one of my favorite actors) really summed it up ““Aside from the fact that it’s been hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones, I’d say the vibe of the show has been pretty good so far, wouldn’t you?”

I guess that brings me back to Love . . . I want to live in a world that knows that truth, forgiveness and love can heal the world.