Well, the Oscars are over, the Grammys are over and it’s already started.  We put ‘em up there.  Now it’s time to knock ‘em off.  Just watch.  It happens every year.

What is it with our country this penchant to lift these people up onto the world pedestal, usually because of their good work, and then as soon as they’re up there, we do everything we can to pull ‘em back down?

It’s an American tradition – and not a very pleasant one.  Is it jealousy on our parts?  Is it that once up there most people don’t know how to handle it and so they sabotage themselves?  Is it the press and their ever-growing need for drama whether it’s truthful or not?  Or is it just that once up there, you get your 15 minutes and then it’s time to get off?

Probably all of the above.

Sadly, on our end, I think it’s a weird kind of perverted jealousy that we display when we, usually as fans, finally see our hopes personified up there, they just don’t look as good as we thought they should have, so we’re instantly disappointed and lose faith.

Turns out they’re human after all and after they played that great role in that movie, when they did their acceptance speech at the Oscars, their ego spilled out all over the stage and they just weren’t a heroic or noble as they were in that award-winning film.

In real life they just weren’t quite the person that they were in that scripted movie.  This is not their fault; this is ours.  We make gods out of these people and then are crushed when they turn out to be human beings. How dumb is that on our part?  Sometimes we get what we deserve.

We make far too much of our actors and celebrities in this country anyway.  As if they all were more important than schoolteachers or nurses or good mothers.

They also are often pretty good at shooting themselves in the foot once they’re up there.  And it’s usually the ego that makes them miss the target.  Ego is a really dangerous foe when you’re on the pedestal.  Most people have no idea how hard it is to control when you’re the object of hysterical adoration.  It’s tough being idolized and staying centered in reality.

The temptation to buy into your great reviews is overwhelming and the seduction of the ego can become unmanageable.  When that happens, one is bound to make huge mistakes and instantly reverse the adoration, turning it into shock, loss of faith and then great disappointment of character.

In short, we try to make them gods, but they’re just not gods.  They can’t stand the heat and so we throw them out of the kitchen.

And then there’s the press.  Egads, what a mess!  Is there any news that we trust anymore?  If there is, I can’t seem to find it.  Whatever happened to the days of Walter Cronkite?  Newsmen and women were supposed to be unbiased.  They were supposed to present the facts, mam, just the facts.

Today, you don’t know what you’re getting except that you know you’re getting a particular person’s personal opinion.  Personally, I’d rather develop my own opinion out of the true facts rather than being fed an opinion by one of our nation’s famous interrupters.

And the press is the worst culprit of the rampant American ego.  Think paparazzi, think red carpet and the embarrassing moments that come one right after another, think ‘worst dressed actress’ and the catty-cutty stupidity of Oscar and Grammy post mortem.

People!  Don’t we have anything better to do with our time than to worry about Sally Wannabee’s ridiculous choice of dress last night?

Like I said, we get what we deserve.

Also, come to think of it, they, the people on the pedestal, get what they deserve as well.  They get their moment in the sun.  How they then handle it, is their problem.  Some are graceful and humbly climb down quickly knowing that they can’t possibly move in and live there.  These are often the ones who find their way up there again.  Think Morgan Freeman.  Think Meryl Streep.  Think Robert Duvall.

Then there are the others who believe the accolades and suddenly see themselves in this Hollywood produced starlight as people who control some important aspect of the world – world changers, destiny makers, saving graces.  They lose the subtle differences of who their characters were in the movies and who they are as people.  They buy into their reviews and lose their centers of reality.  Ego overwhelmed, it spills out in embarrassing ways that for some odd reason we find all too fascinating to watch.

But I can’t watch and so I don’t.  I’d rather watch football.  At least that’s real.  Oh, I want to know who won best this or that.  I love the movies as much as the next guy.  I’m moved to tears by great performances and deeply respect the art of great acting.  It’s just that I don’t care to watch them all wallow in it.  It’s just way too over the top.

So I’m a bit wary of the pedestal.  I’m not sure I would want to give it a try.  It looks like solid marble, but I know it’s really made of cream cheese.  It will only support one’s weight for a few lofty moments.  Think Andy Warhol and his definitive statement, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

I think Andy was saying that everybody will have a chance.  I think it also says that after 15 minutes, you’d be wise to get off that ol’ pedestal before we knock you off.  Let the next person up.  Those who try to hold on to the pinnacle will be the biggest losers.  That’s the way it works.

That’s the way of the world.

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