"We're going to Disney World for Christmas!" my friends shared. With a big smile, I said, "I'm jealous!" I'm not sure why I said that; I'm not sure why any of us say that! But I didn't actually mean it. I was very happy for them! What I really meant was: "What a wonderful place to go, and what a nice place to be in winter." But most of my kids were coming for Christmas. And I was very content with our own plans! Even when someone is mildly jealous for real, it isn't usually the same as envy. Envy burns.
The January fires in Los Angeles, particularly in the Palisades, seem to have brought a lot of envious people to comment boxes of news articles, people who express envy of someone's big house, and who seem to take satisfaction in their own apathy toward those people's losses. Do people actually hear themselves?
It seems that people in the entertainment industry, in particular, are often the subject of envy, ridicule, and - I would like to add - misunderstanding.
I wish I could ask a few questions of some of the people who talk as if actors and producers, and all the other people in the entertainment industry, are somehow "bad" because they might (might possibly!) - after many years in the business - make a lot of money.
Here are some of the questions I would ask them:
1. Would you like to work 12-16 hour days every day? (Doing the same scene over and over? Waiting for others to do theirs? And sometimes on set but sometimes in riskier places?)
2. Would you like to work a job, and then wait for months and maybe even years, to get the next job?
3. And, to someone who is not in the industry, would you like to just turn off your TV, give up your movies, and not take in any of the entertainment that they provide?
I believe there's a great deal of ignorance of what it takes to bring us our entertainment, as well as a dehumanization of those who serve us, who are not actually the characters they portray, but complex human beings with their own thoughts, dreams, families, joys, and sorrows.
