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Weekend Butler: Are we suddenly snowflakes and drama critics? A real Olympic hero. A relevant and thrilling George Clooney movie. Judy Collins & Leonard Cohen.
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Published: Aug 19, 2021
Category:
Weekend
ARE WE SUDDENLY DRAMA CRITICS AND SNOWFLAKES?
One Olympics ended, another started. The Stupid Olympics, just for Americans.
Start with the chaos in Afghanistan. It’s all Biden’s fault? So the chattering class will tell you. (The lunatics want him to resign, having “surrendered” in” Afghanistan, like there has ever been a stately, orderly retreat in any war, ever) But it’s not a secret that Trump had Abdul Ghani Baradar — the Taliban leader who was in prison for life — freed a few years ago. (Where is Baradar now? Why, he’s the political chief and public face of the new government.) Last August, Trump sent Mike Pompeo to Qatar to discuss the transfer of power to the Taliban. This was not a secret. Go to Google, there they are, Pompeo and Baradar, in a lovely two-shot. Do you see a representative of the government there? Me neither. And as recently as April, Trump was tweeting for Biden to honor the agreement he made with the Taliban in February 2020 that excluded the Afghan government, freed 5,000 imprisoned Taliban soldiers and set May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal. But, yeah, this is not one more disaster that involved Trump. No, two liberal friends moaned to me, with just these words, this is “the end of Biden.”
Move on to Gavin Newsom and the recall election in California. You may recall that last November, with social visits restricted for 94% of Californians, he had dinner at the chic restaurant French Laundry with people not from his household. Now he may lose his job to a Republican, very possibly to talk radio host Larry Elder, who has called global warming “a crock” and says the minimum wage should be “zero-point-zero-zero.” (Caitlyn Jenner is also on the ballot.) But, you say, California is solidly Democratic. Just so, but Democrats seem to be apathetic — it’s unclear if they’ll stir themselves to vote.
Just for icing: Barack Obama. Yes, he’s misplaced his smarts in the last year. That mega-banal dialogue with Bruce Springsteen — worse news: soon to be a book — was prelude to a birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard so ill-advised that the guest list had to be pared down to a more reasonable throng. Forget Obamacare — off with his head!
Do you see a link here? I do. It’s that the privileged class — that’s you, that’s me, that’s everyone who gets jittery when one streaming series ends and you have to wait a few days for a Nicole Kidman vehicle even less original than the last — has become so comfortable being uncomfortable at home that we’ve become drama critics. This is not the only mail I get that reels off the complaints: “There’s a collective feeling we’ve been let down by vaccines and presidents that truly bomb, no matter the party, and Washington is a joke no matter who is in charge, and we can’t talk to one another, no leadership anywhere, social media that makes us bad communicators in spite of easy access, crooks and cheats in biz. I fear we are sinking!”
I hear you. And then I ask: What are you gonna do about it? Today. Now. In your daily life, your work, your community.
This week, some people got over their “sorrow” about Afghanistan and launched FLYAWAY: EMERGENCY RESCUE MISSION to rescue 300+ high-value targets – Afghan men and women who have worked as human rights lawyers, champions of Women’s and LGBTQ rights, journalists, government liaisons, artists, and interpreters. In a day, they’re raised $5.7 million. Perhaps you’d like to donate.
This week, a friend who’s feeling just as rotten as others told me how he’s spent the last year:
I got through my fever state last summer and have pretty much been focusing in the meantime on what I can personally control: spending time with my family; trying to be a good father and husband; reading good books and watching good movies and listening to good music; serving my clients who have certainly needed a lot of help. Several years ago, I decided to add a straight pro bono component to my consulting practice (rather than doing work for not-for-profits at a discount). During the pandemic, starting spring 2020, I doubled down on my pro bono work. And then last fall tripled down on it. In addition to other projects I have a joined the board of a wonderful organization doing real and meaningful work in Times Square. At some point I’m going to ask you to make a contribution.
A contribution? With pleasure. And one of my best Cuban cigars.
And then there are the little things. After decades in New York and a year in lockdown in Colorado, Mary moved to France. She’s noticed that every interaction begins with “Bonjour” and ends appropriately. Every single one: “Sometimes it seems I’m acknowledging the existence of other people fifty times a day. Everybody does here. France is a civil society.”
Civility is a start. I’m thinking of an exchange with Joan Rivers when we were writing a speech together. “Joan, how do we treat the little people?” I asked. “Why, we treat them better,” Joan replied. “We only shit on people at our level or higher.” She meant it. Every time I went to dinner in the ballroom that once belonged to J.P. Morgan’s daughter, Joan would call for the waiters, cooks and kitchen staff to come out. She would thank them. And the guests would applaud. I never saw another New York hostess do that.
Most of all, if you don’t want to be a snowflake and a drama critic, accept reality. “What happens is what happens. What matters is what we’re able to make of it” – that’s stoicism. May I suggest a 95-page book, “The Essential Marcus Aurelius.” Because not much has changed since 150 AD. For my review and Amazon links, click here.
Or maybe a more recent restatement will suffice. The Go-Gos, from 1981.
I gave up looking for a reason
To live with things
just the way they are
I came around
Used to be easy to get to
And they got to me
just about every way
Can’t stop the world
Can’t stop the world
Can’t stop the world
SURF’S UP, AND A 74-YEAR-OLD MAN WITH END-STAGE HEART AND KIDNEY DISEASE HAS HIS LAST, MOST SATISFYING RIDE
From his piece in the Easthampton Star:
I felt an immediate sense of excitement and simultaneously a sense of peace. The waves were coming in and we were going out. The feel of the ocean breaking over my head and through my hair was energizing. I felt great satisfaction and happiness.“How many more days do I have left?” I thought. Thank God and thank my son for giving me at least one last chance to feel this harmony with nature.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A OLYMPIC SIVER MEDAL? SHE AUCTIONED HERS FOR CHARITY
Maria Andrejczyk, 25, failed to land a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and had to overcome bone cancer to resurrect her javelin career. After she stood on the podium in Japan to accept her silver medal, she sought a cause to support. “The true value of a medal always remains in the heart,” she told Polish TV. “A medal is only an object, but it can be of great value to others. This silver can save lives, instead of collecting dust in a closet. That is why I decided to auction it to help sick children.”
On Facebook, she read about an American boy who has a serious heart defect and needs an operation. So she auctioned her medal. A Polish convenience store won the auction. “We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian,” its spokesperson said, as she announced the return of the medal to Maria Andrejczyk.
THE BEAUTY PART: “HEY, THAT’S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE” – JUDY COLLINS AND LEONARD COHEN, 1976
WHY IS “MICHAEL CLAYTON” THE WEEKEND MOVIE?
In a rare courtroom appearance, under oath, Richard Sackler, the former Purdue Pharma president and board member, couldn’t think of a single thing his company did to contribute to the opioid epidemic. He didn’t have the least idea how many Americans have died frpm opioid ovedrdoses. (Just in 2019, it was nearly 50,000.)
I immediately thought of “Michael Clayton.” In a world where money counts and white men in suits have trouble remembering how to spell ethics, this movie is about money and ethics. Michael Clayton (George Clooney) works for a major New York law firm that’s been handling a class action lawsuit for U-North, which knowingly manufactured a dangerous weed killer that led to 468 deaths. He’s a “fixer.” And then he isn’t. For my review and a link to rent the stream, click here.
