FRAGILE FAME
The special pressures of fame must be a great trial to those who enter that area of living.
To suddenly arrive a point where your life is no longer your very own to be lived according to your wishes and desires, but, rather, one which must conform to what others expect of you, must be quite a jolt. A single deviation from that plan established by the mass, multi-mind of those who control your fate, can prove to be fatal.
One of the most tragic occurrences of this past year in thousands of homes across the land, and yet it has been largely forgotten by this time. It was personal tragedy for one young man. A small thing, in one way, because pertained just one, still boyish young man who was on the very edge of fame and a well-paying career. He struck us as being genuinely glib;, enthusiastic in every way and born with a seemingly natural ability to excel in the art of sincere salesmanship. He was well on his way to becoming the TV spokesperson for the only remaining line of computers still being made in the United States. He impressed us with his puckish humor as today's, modern version of “Tom Sawyer.” He oozed enthusiasm and had the verbal verve to match.
Suddenly, he was no longer there. We saw no obit notices. A few readers found short snippets in the folds of our newspapers that he had run afoul of the marijuana weed. I never knew the extent of his involvement but his career was at an end ... destroyed. Ever since that time, I have wondered when our scientific, medical, social and political people will find a workable plan to rehabilitate and restore such wasted talent.
Now – today – another young man of special ability his on center stage - young Ken Jennings, from Salt Lake City, Utah who in the prevailing and seemingly unbeatable champion on the TV program “Jeopardy.” This long-standing TV favorite recently revised its rules for the regular program showings to allow winners to remain on the show until defeated. Jennings has won millions of dollars and show not sign of being bested. He has won the hearts of million of TV viewer who are not setting forth all sorts of potentials for his future. is modest nature will, I think, cause him to do what all true champions ought to do – attain to a certain point that will make any future record setters have second thoughts, and to then retired
undefeated.
Ken Jennings is responding well to the pressures of fame and good fortune.
A.L.M. November 12, 2004 [c445wds]
