Eli and Tiger and Heirs - Oh, My!

Okay, you’re probably wondering what sort of wizardry (pun intended) I plan to use in explaining my heading. Because I normally use this blog to write about some aspect of writing, there is a literary—or at least artistic—connection: the cinema.


I’ll begin with Tiger. Doubtless, he’s much less a respected public figure than he was several months ago. Deservedly so. How much time and energy do we put into the near-worship of sports, entertainment, or other public icons? Too much. But, that’s not precisely the link. Even so, it helps to develop my argument, so I’ll run with it. How many television shows, blogs, internet stories, and other, name-that-media sources deal with these individuals? I haven’t done a survey or sampling, but, I’m willing to bet it’s more than we would care to admit. We seem obsessed with the lifestyles and behaviors of these celebrities – hence the seemingly endless supply of programming dedicated to following them.


Now, raise your hands, all of you, who’ve become disaffected with golf because of Tiger’s personal failures. Yes, I thought so. No one. And how many of us have forgiven Robert Downey Jr. his transgressions of the past? There, my friends, is my point. We place movie stars, athletes, and performers of all types up on a pedestal, but we realize in the end that they are people, all the same. They make mistakes, and some more than others. For whatever reason, though, we are drawn to them. We don’t stop going to movies because of a favorite star’s substance abuse any more than we stop going to ball games because a superstar admitted to the use of banned substances. Granted, we may shun that specific individual, but we don’t throw the entire realm of their practice in along with them.

Okay, so how does Eli fit in? Well, I am referring to The Book of Eli, if you were wondering about that. Still, what’s my point? It’s this: I was hit by several of Denzel’s lines about two-thirds through the movie. I can’t quote them verbatim, but I can paraphrase. Denzel's character stated that no one knew what was truly valuable until everything was taken away. Then, people killed each other for things they used to readily discard. While these words resonated enough as it was, he went on, and I found the next statement the most telling. Eli related that, after the cataclysm ended our civilization, people blamed religion for the destruction of the world. They sought out and burned whatever bibles, and other religious texts, I assume, that they could find because they sought to eliminate what they saw as the cause of humankind’s downfall.


Perhaps you’re starting to put together my argument, or maybe I’m still not doing a good enough job at explaining my thought process. Well, I’ll sum everything up with my reference to ‘heirs.’ We are the heirs of our society. We will inherit what is established, maintained, and ultimately valued in our culture. Do we continue to put so much of our time, treasure and talent into the fruitless pursuit of these human icons? Or, do we begin to realize what is really important while we still have time? And, more importantly, should we stand by while a vocal minority denounce any and all organized religion because of the sins of individuals? Whether we speak of the missteps of televangelists, Catholic clergy or Muslims, they are people. It is human nature to make mistakes, to sin . To stray from the path. They may begin to follow human interests rather than their spiritual tenets, unwittingly or not.



Religion, then, is not the cause of the world’s problems, though I hear this more and more often. Putting our faith in mere individuals rather, is the trap, be they secular or spiritual leaders. Believing blindly in literal interpretations leads us away from the intrinsic spirit of any religious text, Christian or other. Surely, if we can separate celebrities and their individual flaws from our interest in and commitment to their activities, we can do the same when it comes to a subject that’s of such crucial importance.


In the end, though, I'm not about to tell you what you should or shouldn't believe in. The choice is up to you. For me, that cornerstone is faith. I choose to stand for a certain someone rather than fall for anyone.