COURAGE, OR SELF-IMPORTANCE?

    
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A few days ago I was startled when a loyal reader of this blog commented on my courage for making public my thoughts and beliefs. I had never felt that it took courage to reveal my  inner feelings on most subjects. Insensitivity, perhaps, or lack of sufficient information. Not courage.

But after thinking about it for a while, I have come to the conclusion that it might possibly take courage (in one sense) to write about certain things, subjects normally thought to be too personal and possibly unnecessarily hurtful to loved ones for me to speak (or write) about.

I have more to say about this but need more time to put it in the proper words, and probably couched in some sort of protective shell, such as in fictional form.

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Yesterday (Sunday) around noon, an old movie comedy titled Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title was aired on the local oldies TV channel.

One reviewer wrote: It is set in a run-down diner where a bumbling short-order cook and a klutzy waitress work. They are so terrible at their jobs that they soon lose them. Next the two go to help a pal run her recently inherited bookstore. There they found trouble when a Russian spy mistakenly identifies the former cook as a defecting cosmonaut. Meanwhile, two would-be bank robbers are secretly sneaking 'round the bookstore trying to tunnel into the bank vault next door."

The reviewer finished with, "Unfortunately, the comedy in this film is just about as crummy as its title. On the bright side, it does feature a number of veterans from popular TV sitcoms."

Some of the stars featured are known from their roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show. They were: Morey Amsterdam (Buddy Sorrel,), Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley), Rose Marie (Sally Rogers), and Carl Reiner (Alan Brady).

Other now-famous celebrities who played characters in the movie were Irene Ryan (Grannie from The Beverly Hillbillies), Danny Thomas, Forrest Tucker, Milton Berle, Moe Howard (The Three Stooges), Nick Adams (Johnny Yuma, The Rebel), Steve Allen, and Cliff Arquette (Charlie Weaver).

With a lineup like that, how could it not be a fabulously funny film?

Well, it was not. The reviewer was right. I started to watch it but could only stick with it for less than half an hour.

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WORD FOR TODAY

courage [kuhr-ij]
noun
the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. in the face of fear

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Andy Rooney

Born Jan 14, 1919
Died Nov 4, 2011

Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney was an American radio and television writer. He was most notable for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," a part of the CBS News program 60 Minutes from 1978 to 2011. His final regular appearance on 60 Minutes aired October 2, 2011. He died one month later at age 92.

Faye Dunaway

Born Jan 14, 1941
Age:  71 years old

Dorothy Faye Dunaway is an American actress. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1976 film Network. She was previously nominated for Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Chinatown (1974). She has starred in a variety of other successful films, including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Little Big Man (1970), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and Mommie Dearest (1981).

William Bendix

Born Jan. 14, 1906
Died Dec. 14, 1964

William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in movies for the title role in The Babe Ruth Story. He also memorably portrayed the clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island (1942).

Jason Bateman

Born Jan. 14, 1969
Age:   43 years old

Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms, including It's Your Move and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land Award, a Golden Globe, and two Satellite Awards. He has since established himself in Hollywood by appearing in several films including The Kingdom, Juno, Hancock, Up in the Air, Paul, and Horrible Bosses.

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I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
--Nelson Mandela