Monday, December 17, 2012

Superstar of All Time


Ever since day two, Superstar of the Week has been one of the defining features of this blog. Superstar of the Week would come and go, dwindling down in the beginning of the year, and then picking back up in the summer. It began as a joke; I'd arbitrarily select some random person, usually a celebrity, to feature that week as the Superstar of the Week. No explanation as to why this person had been selected, no excerpts or information about this person, just a picture.

The week of the one-year anniversary of this blog, the year of the Chuck Norris facts, I decided to feature Chuck Norris as the Superstar of the Year. Every year following this, until the last two years, I would select a Superstar of the Year and write a full post on why I had selected this person.

In 2009, I decided that the old Superstar of the Week gag had run its course, and instead decided to purposefully select a Superstar of the Week, writing a full article about this person.

I posted Superstar of the Week/ Year, on Mondays. And so, for the final Monday of this blog, I have selected a Superstar of All Time. After careful consideration, I have decided to select Richard Dean Anderson.

Richard Dean Anderson represents two inspiring characters. The first of these is the well-know, Macguyver, of the 80s television show. In modern times, the term "macguyver" has come into popular use as a verb, meaning to jury-rig, or to create from scratch with limited supplies.

Macguyver represents an attitude. Lock most people up in a supply closet, and they'll sit there wishing that they had a key, a weapon, a window, that someone would rescue them, that they weren't locked in a supply closet, that they had never come on that trip in the first place. Macguyver, on the other hand, would look around and find some way to create an explosion, a makeshift key, or a non-lethal weapon, and be out of that supply closet. There's no such thing as a lock for Macguyver. There's just different types of doorknobs.

The common attitude in life, is to wish that something were different, that something would change for you. The Macguyver attitude is to recognize what you need in your surroundings and go from there.

The second character is Col. Jack O'Niell (two Ls) from Stargate SG1. What I find inspiring about Jack O'Niell can be summarized in one quote: "I don't trust anybody who doesn't have a sense of humor." In a world on the verge of blowing a gasket, always worried about something, constantly honking their horns at the "idiot drivers" who inconvenience them in traffic, there is Jack O'Niell; totally sincere yet always playful.

One of the great questions of modern society is: "does the man serve the machine or does the machine serve the man?" The common lifestyle in this society is to spend one's life serving the machine with no real purpose; not to experience joy, or serve one's fellow human. Ultimately, not even for the paycheck, but because it's what we're "supposed to do." But if you serve the corporate structure merely for the sake of the corporate structure, then what is it's purpose?

Then there are those who live with a purpose. Joy and well-being represent the purpose of life whereas despair, anxiety, and depression indicate that something isn't right, something needs aid. Instead of arbitrarily sacrificing ones joy and well-being for no real purpose, one lives for the purpose of alleviating suffering and increasing well-being. A sense of humor is like a gauge indicating whether one's attitude would serve the well-being of life, or snuff it out.

A fictional character, such as Jack O'Niell, represents a personalized set of ideals which one can choose to identify with and align with in themselves. Do I feel playful, or righteously indignant? If the latter, then something is off-kilter.

And so, as I prepare to end this blog, I feature a character who quite possibly represents the purpose of J-Dubb's Theatre. When I was younger, J-Dubb's Theatre was instrumental at a time when I was easily tempted to take myself too seriously. Well, I'm still easily tempted to take myself too seriously... but I got better.

If playing goofy characters helps me to not take myself too seriously, then maybe I can do a better job of serving the well-being of life. If that's the case, then this blog from which J-Dubb's Theatre sprang has served a purpose.

Now, stay tuned for the final blog post, December 21...

1 comment:

Grahamybear said...

I will miss the blogs, but continue to follow the theatre.