Can we talk?

After the Oscars

    Thank Heavens the Oscars are over! Such self-love and self-worship in the celebrity world!

    Actors have a job. Sometimes they're okay, and sometimes they're outstanding. They're pretty well paid for it, and they get a lot of hero worship. But all the award shows are nauseating. Stop patting each other on the back, and thank your lucky stars you don't have to live like everybody else. Get over yourselves.

    Where is the red carpet for the plumber of the year? You know the guy who comes when you have an emergency, does a job no one else will do in the middle of the night, and treats you courteously and doesn't expect anyone to baby him.
 
    Where are the evening gowns and jewelry-on-loan for the nominees for best teacher in the state, or best hotel maid (talk about hard jobs!), or most efficient fast food worker? When do secretaries, day care workers, nurses, therapists, manicurists, and laundry workers get to dress up for a big dinner and adulation?

    There's no big award shows for outstanding fishermen, factory workers, bread truck drivers, postal carriers, police officers,or auto mechanics. Where would we be without the guy who changes the oil and delivers the bread, or works the power lines, or repairs our heating units? There's no award shows for the waitress or bus boy who go out of the way to please you, or for the nurses who make those awful hospital stays more comfortable. Why don't those outstanding workers get a statuette and some fanfare?

    Our military, our firefighters, our rescue workers, our social workers, our street cleaners, our garbage collectors all have more impact on our daily lives than celebrities. Even switchboard operators impact us more than movie stars. Why don't we celebrate the work and achievement of those on whom we depend?

    Instead of idolizing actors, why don't we honor the farmer of the year? The one who produced the most in the safest and most economical way? Why don't we give a trophy to the horticulturalist who produced the most fragrant rose last year? Or the veterinarian who developed a cheaper way to treat pets for fleas? Why don't we honor the farmer, scientist, or business that does the most to save honey bees, since they're so essential to the world food supply?

    Why shouldn't we give national recognition to a principal who turned a school around in a bad neighborhood to produce drug-free, college bound students? Why not honor the sheriff who reduced crime in his county? Why not have a big blow out party for all the volunteers who gave time to work in local jails, state prisons, and youth detention sites to rehabilitate offenders? Certainly volunteer youth workers deserve Oscars more than actors.

      Think of all the everyday workers in pharmaceuticals, hospitals, schools, engineering, manufacturing, and transportation to make our lives longer, healthier, safer, more comfortable and convenient? They deserve applause so much more than all these self-absorbed, sissy, arrogant over-dressed (or under-dressed) celebrities. All those other people contribute so much more to society and to our daily lives than movie stars, but we waste all that energy and hoopla over these celebrities who usually loose sight of who they really are and how they fit in the world. They have a place, but it's not as big as the Hollywood world has come to believe

    That day of elegance, bigger-than-life personae, and escapism offered by Hollywood is over. We don't need all those award shows any more. We don't need to keep heaping accolades on the backs of those who already wallow in self-admiration. We really need to scale back and live in a more realistic world. We need to line up our people values a little better.