Fame and Fortune

[Mythsaje]

Some of us are driven by the need to claim the spotlight, to be the center of attention. People will go on TV and tolerate the damnedest things for their promised fifteen minutes of fame. They'll eat worms, engage in astounding acts of folly, and willingly subject themselves to public humiliation to get a few minutes of camera time.

People will sign up to bare their lives and their souls on the stage of the Jerry Springer show, or strip down for a public flogging on Judge Judy, exposing themselves to the dubious mercy of a creature that makes me shudder just thinking about her.

All over the world, kids dream of making it as a rock or pop star, or gracing the small or big screen with their presence. Some kids dream of dancing, or acting on the stage. The best of these are driven by a need to practice an art, but others just want to see their name in lights, or to hear the screams of an adoring crowd.

Some people grow so desperate to be known that they will commit acts of unspeakable evil to gain notoriety, if they cannot gain the attention of the masses in any other way.

I briefly dreamed of being a rock star. The fact is, I have little in the way of musical talent. Oh, I have something of a voice, and an ear for pitch, but have never really learned to play an instrument. I've long since come to terms with the fact that, for me, it was an unattainable dream. Not only come to terms with it, but have accepted this truth with a certain amount of relief.

Fame for fame's sake means little to me. My most persistent dream, from the tender age of about ten years, has been to be an author, to share my imagination with the world. This is a sort of fame that is far more subtle than that of a rock star, an actor, or politician. All but the most recognizable authors can walk down the street without being mobbed, their private lives remaining private even in the face of the media's growing obsession with the trappings of fame rather than real news.

But the fame of a relatively successful author is not an end in and of itself. At least not for me. To me that "fame," such as it is, would simply be an avenue to allow me to do that which has meant the whole world to me. It would allow me to write, to not be distracted by the daily grind of the day job, and to have my Infinity Project grow into an even more ambitious epic than it's already turning out to be.

So, no, I do not envy the Paris Hiltons of the world. I actually pity Brittney Spears, and feel a pang of sympathy for the pressure that caused her, ever so briefly, to melt down before the eyes of the world. I can only imagine what it might be like to have every move picked apart and scrutinized by the media, to be unable to hold to the barest sliver of a private life away from the demands of these "guardians" of the public trust.

The media builds these great pedestals for our celebrities to climb upon, then, once they've been lifted high enough, deliberately and with great pleasure, starts wacking away at these pedestals, as eager to see these people fall as they were to raise them up in our eyes. I do not envy them, these beacons of popular glory. Such a fate holds no attraction for me.

I want my WORKS to matter. I would like my name to be known only so far as to prompt someone to pick up one of my novels from the bookstore shelf and lose themselves in another world for a time. Just to entertain and, for a brief span, take them away from the pressures of his or her day to day life.

I do not aspire to literary "greatness," whatever that might be. I do not endeavor to plunge the depths of the human experience, or to lay bare the trials and tribulations of human existence. If I can bring forth a laugh or two, engender a tear now and again, and leave the reader feeling satisfied at the end of the book, I'm a happy man.

So I dedicate my life to the printed word, to fashioning whole universes out of language, and strive for what small bit of fame might come my way to allow me to continue doing what I love, what I've been driven to do from an early age.

And I hope to bring as many people as possible along for the ride and spread a little hope along the way.

As ambitions go, it's not a bad one.

To that end, I invite you to visit my website @ http://www.sajewilliams.com

And, in the meantime, give thanks that it's not YOU the media is currently hounding. I know I do.

[stellanoir]

1. Couldn't agree with you more

I lived in LA for a while and it was curious to me that people would work and strive to achieve notoriety to then spend enormous amounts of money buffering themselves from those who would recognize them.

Putting people on pedastals invariably causes them to cast a long shadow in which many become engulfed.

I've always seen celebrity worship as a sort of bizarre form of energetic cannibalism and idolatry.

Infamy is far more intriguing.

Thanks for the most thoughtful thread I've read on this matter thus far.

Cool site as well.

K & R'd

[Mythsaje]

2. My wife and I watched the romantic comedy

"Just my luck" last night, with Lindsay Lohan, and my wife commented that she "looked so wholesome." I had to laugh. The poor girl's notorious for her partying. We also watched "The Devil Wears Prada" and that one seriously set my teeth on edge. Fame, power, wealth, these things don't attract me for their own sake. I can't say I've always been immune to their siren call, but these days? Not a chance.