Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:47 PM CDT
COLUMN: Stand on your head, sit on your hands -- but get some perspective
By PENNY WEAVER, News Editor
pweaver@jg-tc.com
Life is really all about perspective, isn’t it?
Oh sure, some say life is like a box of chocolates, or life’s a beach, or whatever.
Perspective. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
As wave after nauseous wave of “news” about Michael Jackson’s death has washed over my consciousness for the last month, despite my best efforts to resist, I’ve tried to gain perspective on the whole debacle.
To us “normal” folks, it seems pretty clear, if the direction investigators are taking so far pans out: Anyone who is reckless enough to have doctors, in their own home, administer a drug used in hospitals to put people “under” for surgery should know what could happen.
The Associated Press reports this week that Jackson used propofol, an anesthetic, like an alarm clock, having a doc “put him to sleep” for his nightly snooze and then awaken him at a certain time.
Well. It appears he really did get “put to sleep.”
Just how stupid are celebrities? I suppose I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but have any of these guys heard of Elvis Presley (cause of death a heart attack related to consumption of multiple drugs in 1977 at age 42)?
Fast forward to 2008. Heath Ledger died at age 28 apparently of an accidental overdose of six different prescription medications. What normal person would take six different meds without telling the doctor who’s treating them what all they are taking?
I can kind of, but not quite, understand the situation with Elvis. Back then, we didn’t know as much about drugs, prescription or otherwise. But the number of medications he reportedly took defies any stretch of common sense.
Yet others seem to have learned nothing from Presley’s mistakes. Surely Michael Jackson knew the dangers of what he was supposedly doing. Perhaps he was just like many teenagers — he thought he was invincible.
I try not to be judgmental. I try to adjust my perspective.
Let’s say I grew up with Joe Jackson for a father, and was famous almost as long as I could remember. Maybe my thinking would be different, too, if I grew up on a stage in front of cheering crowds, and I didn’t go to a regular school or do normal things with family and friends.
If I had all the money I could dream of, surely my perspective would be different. Maybe I’d do all kinds of things that the “normal me” considers “crazy” if I had so much money that if one doctor wouldn’t do what I wanted, I’d find and pay another one who’d tell me “yes.”
Well, I don’t know if I can twist and bend my perspective far enough for that to sound reasonable. I might pull a muscle.
I try to imagine what the people around such a celebrity must be thinking. Perhaps they want to “call out” their friend for drug abuse, but they know if they do, that celebrity might shut them out. So, maybe they try to help from within, and walk a fine line between showing concern and initiating a confrontation.
As a journalist, I try to fairly view the many sides of every story. I try to see all perspectives, regardless of my own opinion. The more information I have, the easier it is to do this.
We as the public have to try to do the same thing, if we want to understand some of the stories that make the news. The problem is that the stories are almost always told from one perspective or another, not from both.
Take the flap in Cambridge, Mass., when Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested after police went to his house in response to a report of a possible break-in. He’s black, and the sergeant who arrested him is white. Gates was accused of disorderly conduct as he protested police behavior.
When President Barack Obama sounded off, saying police acted “stupidly” in the incident, he got himself into some hot water.
Now, was this incident a case of white cops jumping to conclusions and acting racist regarding a black man who appeared to be busting into a house? Or was this an overly sensitive black man crying “Racists!” and overreacting to a simple misunderstanding?
It’s about perspective. I can easily see how Gates would be upset to be accused of breaking into his own home. I can see how, having experienced discrimination all of his life due to his skin color, he might assume a swarm of white cops automatically are racist.
But I can also see how the cops can’t win, either. They were called for a break-in, and Gates flies off the handle, and they don’t appreciate anyone — black or white — getting belligerent with them. Cops get that a lot in handling domestic situations and other daily duties.
Maybe both sides need some perspective, and maybe the president does, too. The truth likely is somewhere in the middle.
Perhaps a cold brewski at the White House can infuse some perspective.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I try hard to see situations from views other than my own, especially when a disagreement or miscommunication is involved. Can something I do or say easily be interpreted differently than how I mean it? What is another person thinking, if I can figure that out, based on his or her background, experiences in life, and knowledge of any given situation?
So, I suppose, with the proper perspective, I might not call overdrugged dead celebrities “stupid.” Perhaps if I stand on my head, or sit on my hands, or blink three times, I can see life as it was from their vantage points.
Well, it was worth a try, but mostly all I’ve gotten so far is a headache ... and a lot of funny looks from co-workers apparently wondering why I’d sit on my head in a chair with wheels on it.
They should try seeing things from my point of view. Different perspectives can be fun, even if trying to capture them leaves you with your feet sticking up over the wall of your cubicle.
The blood rushes to your head ... who needs drugs?!
Whee!
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
Texas T wrote on Jul 31, 2009 2:45 PM:
Also, the only one acting "Stupidly" was the President trying to talk without his teleprompter. LOL "