Tag Archives: accolades

Crocodile Tears

Crocodile tears: (n) insincere tears

It’s difficult to determine what ends up making something popular.

I guess most folks would think that some action gains notoriety because it’s so successful.

Yet there are many things we do in our society that are not successful at all.

But we insist on continuing them out of tradition, politics or religion.

No, there’s more to it than that.

For something to be truly popular, everyone who participates needs to feel they’re getting something off of it.

Recently it has become prevalent to share your life story in front of a camera on television and to cry.

Everyone is supposed to feel great empathy.

Therefore, you can win over the favor of an entire audience while simultaneously making them feel generous with their concern.

The hitch in this plan is that ultimately, we all favor winners. Otherwise there would be no need for trophies, awards and accolades. So how is it that we are convinced that a close-up on our face with crocodile tears, sharing the tragedy that has happened to us, is supposed to be powerful enough to place us in a preferred position?

We now have singers who don’t sing for the joy of it or write songs because they feel energized or compelled. Rather, they hope that in singing or writing they can gain enough money to move their poor little family out of the trailer, and the youngest daughter, who was born with a third arm, can finally get that operation which is only performed by one doctor, whose clinic is in the Alps.

The ingredients are all there:

  • A sympathetic character
  • Crocodile tears
  • A nearly unbelievable story
  • And a wish that somehow or another, those who are listening will assist by voting this particular singer to the winner’s circle.

It works around this horrible assertion that bad things happen to us:

We are victims.

There were no opportunities to improve our situation to this point.

And there are forces at work to destroy us which we don’t seem able to curtail.

Now, if this is the case—in other words, if there’s truth to the fact that any one of us can be impaled by a mysterious destiny that’s targeting us—then I have to admit, the human life journey seems fruitless.

If I have no say, I’d rather not speak.

 

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Cosby, Bill

Cosby, Bill: A twentieth-century comedian

“He used to be funny.”

I overheard someone make that comment. They were talking about Bill Cosby. They had decided he was no longer funny because he was convicted of sexual harassment and assault on women.funny wisdom on words that begin with a C

I thought to myself, did that rob him of his humor? Are we the sub-total of everything we create and do? Or is our creative life separate from our personal life, which we live out based upon the dictates of our own conscience?

Would Abraham Lincoln be as well-liked for freeing the slaves if we knew he was assaulting women who worked at the White House?

What if we discovered that Mother Teresa was abusing little girls while simultaneously and almost single-handedly touching the lives of the lost souls of India?

Religious people certainly seemed pretty upset when they heard rumors that Jesus might have kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth.

Although we know better, we think that people who do good deeds should also be morally impeccable. How does one achieve that?

And for that matter, how is it possible to look objectively at Bill Cosby without coming across as if you’re trying to defend his iniquity?

Should we burn all the Michael Jackson records because it appears, from the testimony of several sources, that he molested children?

Should Catholic priests be forbidden to be alone with altar boys and girls because the history of such encounters is filled with sexual perversion?

Am I prepared to have the deeds I do and the person I truly am merged into one being, which is evaluated in totality instead of broken into two categories—the me I wanted to be and the me I was?

I honestly would have no problem listening to a comedy routine from Bill Cosby. But I don’t think I could tolerate hearing him postulate on fatherhood and how to get kids to behave better. And I do believe many of the accolades he received for citizenship and the leadership awards should be retracted.

He was still funny.

It may be the only thing he’ll have left when he dies in a cage.


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Big-Head

Big-head: (n) a conceited or arrogant person.

Dictionary B

Conceited: “Look at what I can do!”

Arrogant: “I do it best.”

Where is the joy in doing?

Somewhere along the line, all of our athletes, superstars, politicians and celebrities grow weary of the aspect of the joy in the art or practice that brought them into notoriety.

They become professionally famous.

Their lives become the pursuit of maintaining that status, which demands that they feather their nest even as they deflower the reputations of competitors.

It is nasty business.

It’s based around the ridiculous premise that if you don’t toot your own horn, it won’t get tooted. Yet eventually people get tired of your brassy promotion. What then?

Is there any satisfaction remaining in just being able to share what you can do? Or does that ability have to be accompanied by awards, accolades and predominance?

The best way to get rid of a big head is to keep your focus shrunken to the blessedness of living out that which you originally dreamed to do.

If people enjoy it, so much the better.

But if they don’t, or if the fame you seek eludes you, then make sure that when you finish the day, you do so with a spring in your step and a joy with your pursuit.Donate Button

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Back-slapping

Back-slapping: (n) the action of effusively congratulating or encouraging someone, typically by slapping a person’s back.

What is praise-worthy?Dictionary B

I must be honest with you and tell you that I’m often disturbed by what we consider to be acceptable, and also what is granted accolade.

There’s a lot of back-slapping going on in America–mutual appreciation for matters that are certainly not advancing the cause of humanity.

Merely showing the reality of street violence, and using it as a premise for making numerous movies, is not cause for parading down red carpets and receiving cast-in-gold trophies.

Lying to the press, thinking you’re going to get away with some egregious error and then, for some reason or another, escaping the social guillotine, is not admirable.

And merely making decisions to disrupt your own life and demand that others accept your decision as completely normal without question is certainly an American right, but should not afford you a parade.

The only deeds that demand back-slapping happen when human beings step out of the jungle and attempt, through intellect, art, spirituality or hard work, to place our human family back into the Garden of Eden.

Perhaps that is too idealistic for some folks, or they feel that exposing the underbelly of the human creature is essential, but I am interested in the heart.

It is located just East of our soul.

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Accomplish

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Accomplish: (v.) to achieve or complete successfully.

Is it permissible for me to slightly disagree with a definition?

Because I have to be honest with you–I feel like I have accomplished things in my life without being successful. I think placing the term “success,” tying that word to every endeavor, is a great way of discouraging people from launching into activities that might fall short of expectation.

Sometimes I accomplish what I am able to do, but I don’t think anybody would brand it a success. When you take away my sense of accomplishment because I don’t meet our culture’s definition of achievement, you not only rob me of personal satisfaction, but you also greatly tempt me to avoid taking on anything that is risky enough to fall short of the “glory road.”

Sometimes we accomplish without ever seeing success.

Every once in a while, we find ourselves in a garden of despair, praying alone, fully cognizant that we are exactly where we need to be, even though it seems that running away would be a better alternative.

Every once in a while, the criticism nails us to the cross, as it were, where we declare that our work is finished, even though it looks like we are on our last legs.

Not everything is as simple as people make it, or even as Webster dictates. There is a season when ideas must be pursued, even when the prejudice and anger of the world around us dooms them to obscurity. There is a certain amount of bravery necessary to accomplish your mission, without receiving any badge of merit.

No, in this case I have to disagree with the dictionary. It is very possible to accomplish an intricate and essential task without ever being rewarded.

  • It is completely plausible to be a good parent and have lousy children.
  • It is possible to take care of your car and accomplish all maintenance requirements and still break down,
  • And it is certainly in the realm of reasonability to be a good husband or wife and end up in a divorced situation.

If we’re going to use superficial qualifications to have joy in our lives, or if we’re only truly happy when accolades are sent our way, we will eventually steer our ship toward safe, still waters.

Maybe that’s why mediocrity is now accepted as normal–and our world suffers in the malaise.

Ably

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Ably: adv. skillfully, competently.

So I was sitting over breakfast talking with my dear friend about accomplishment. Suddenly a thought popped out of my mouth and rang with such clarity and truth that I was convinced I had been temporarily possessed by an angelic intelligence. Since that doesn’t happen very often, I thought I would mark the occasion by sharing it with you:

You can never learn how capable you are until you confess all of your incapabilities.

I guess the first step to that is removing the fear of being inadequate in some maneuver. If you don’t do that, or you will never have the gumption to uncover your incapabilities so that your capabilities have a chance to breathe and dance around.

I realized that all human beings live in a fleshly house and spend all of their time hoarding. We want to be the BEST at EVERYTHING–so we collect every accolade that might confirm our proclamation of superiority, and we stack them in the closet, until we are so surrounded by false praise that we really can’t move around and do anything.

  • Do you really need to be the BEST lover to enjoy the process?
  • Do you have to be the BEST writer to be read and appreciated?
  • Do you have to have the BEST time at the NFL Combine to believe that you’re a good enough athlete to play on Sundays?
  • Do you have to be the BEST singer to raise your voice in song?

Capability is never freed up to express itself until it is unencumbered by unacknowledged incapability.

Ably–what a great word. I don’t have to do everything ably. That’s why I have brothers and sisters.

But when I am blessed man and discover something that I CAN do ably, let me thrust it to the forefront and see if I can’t make this earth more habitable.