January 23, 2001

The Need for Direction
by Timothy Rollins

Some things just don’t make sense and some do. All too often today, we see people come from nowhere and make success stories of their lives.  In the process, they become either famous and find others desirous of emulating their success.  Actor Kirk Douglas once wrote a note to his son, Academy-award® winning actor Michael in which he said, “Michael, I’m more proud of how you handle success than I am of your success.”  Needless to say, Michael Douglas treasures his father’s note. 

Some people make the transition from obscurity to celebrity quite well, like Bill Gates, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Richard Dreyfuss, and others who have been raised in famous families are able to make the transition from being the child of a celebrity to making positive contributions in their own right.  Examples of these people would be Steve Forbes, whose father Malcolm was the founder of FORBES Magazine as well as George W. Bush, who has become only the second presidential son to occupy the Oval Office in his own right.

What doesn’t make sense in all too many instances is the irresponsibility shown by many who have come from nowhere to make it big.  These are the people who all too often show up on police blotters for assaults and other crimes.  One of the best examples in the news right now is former NFL player Rae Carruth (pictured, above) of the Carolina Panthers, who was sentenced yesterday to 18-24 years in prison for what amounted to a hit on his pregnant girlfriend.  Inasmuch as the jury did not find him guilty of Murder 1, he was spared the death penalty, which may not be of much comfort to the mother of his dead girlfriend, as Carruth’s sentence won’t bring her daughter back.

Bad behavior on the part of celebrities is by no means limited to the sports arena.  While Robert Downey, Jr. (pictured, left) justifiably celebrated his Golden Globe® award that he received Sunday night, he has to be more than just a wee bit nervous as he faces the possibility of going back to jail once again for violating his probation.  What part of ‘stay away from drugs’ does this guy not get?  He gets jail time for failure to comply with terms of an earlier probation, and no sooner does he get out and get a fantastic professional opportunity - a job on ‘Ally McBeal’, playing Ally’s boyfriend, than he gets busted AGAIN for possession.  This case will be particularly interesting to see how it works out.

I have a sister-in-law who told me of the mammoth struggle it was for her to quit smoking cigarettes, and in all fairness, I cannot say I know firsthand the need to overcome addictions such as these.  In that sense, I have been very fortunate to have had a very clear and well-directed moral compass by which I have tried to live my life.  Such a quality seems to be in decline these days, as evidenced by the actions of the famous and notorious whose boorish and/or illegal actions make the newspapers.

In the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, the principal of the high school (played by Olympia Dukakis), told Richard Dreyfuss’ character (Mr. Holland) that it was not just enough to fill young minds with knowledge, but to provide them with a compass with which to direct that knowledge.  One of the failings of the school system over the last 30 years has been their absolute avoidance to teach responsibility or sense of values, for fear of either getting sued or worse.

I cannot help but wonder that if people like Carruth or Downey had stronger ‘moral compasses’ instilled within them, that perhaps these most unfortunate situations may not have taken place.  In Downey’s case, I cannot help but think that he needs to take a serious look at his lifestyle, lest he end up doing a prison stretch the length of Carruth’s.

Downey has loads of talent and is very good at what he does. However, he works in an industry where drugs are plentiful and given that he makes a wole lot of money, drugs are affordable to him and yet with his addiction, he seems willing to pay any price for them, even if it means his freedom from the captivity of a prison cell.  However, he does not seem able to face up to one very important reality, and that is that his choice (that’s right – choice) of environment is killing him and will eventually rob him of all that really matters.  Look at what happened to John Belushi.  I cannot help but think that if I were in a situation like Downey’s, that I would do whatever it took to get away from an environment that would cause me to have problems of that magnitude.

If it were me, I’d leave Hollywood and its attendant crowd of sycophants, move a couple of thousand miles away and live the life of a quiet gentleman.  I might even find a new line of work.  Both Carrie Fisher and Jamie Lee Curtis have turned to other pursuits either in addition to acting or largely in lieu thereof, and have become successful writers.  In many cases, people with one really good talent often discover that they have more than one that will not only benefit themselves, but others as well, and can be an additional source of income too.

I remember an incident back in 1986 where I heard a junior high school principal speak to a group of young single adults at the church I attended at the time.  He told us there was a 14-year old girl in his office earlier that week telling him she had incredible abdominal pain.  He asked her if there was anything she had eaten that may have caused it, to which she replied ‘No’.  He asked her why she would otherwise be in so much pain, to which she told him that she had had an abortion earlier in the day.  Normally when a child comes to the school nurse or principal and they are not feeling well, the parents are notified so they may come to the school and pick up their child and take them to the doctor.

In this case however, he was unable to do that because he knew he would be fired if he did.  The law in California was very specific on the issue; teachers and school administrators could not notify parents of their children being involved in an abortion under any circumstances.  He knew he could be fired and possibly prosecuted if he did so.  What a crock!  If my child were in pain – regardless of the reason, I would want to be there to help in whatever way I was able, and to heck with school regulations.

I cannot help but wonder what things would be like had the bleeding hearts not hijacked the nation’s social values with their agenda back in the 1960’s.  I do know this, and that is we are reaping a bitter harvest now of broken, damaged and diseased lives that will end all too soon because some know-it-alls thought they had all the answers.  No one person has all the answers; that is why we work together in groups, committees and the like – in the hopes that by a meeting of the minds, we can both help reduce as well as prevent these vicious cycles of abuse, neglect and misdirection from perpetuating to the next generation. ***

© 2001 Timothy Rollins

Photo of Rae Carruth courtesy of AFP

Photo of Robert Downey Jr. courtesy of NBC and The Associated Press

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