Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I am not a commodity


Every once in a while, I get a fawning e-mail from someone who wants something from me because of something I did a long time ago. These folks are usually tripping all over themselves saying they don't want to "bother me." But I never have what they want (memorabilia), and so, I send them a polite response saying so, and tell them that they did not bother me. Not once have I ever received a response afterwards.

I realized the other day that this bothers me. Once these people find out that I have nothing tangible, of monetary worth, to give them, that's it. All that fawning is a crock, not that I like fawning in the first place. I find it creepy.

On one of those silly quizzes I took the other night, there was this question: "Do you ever worry that if you became rich, you wouldn't be able to tell whether people really loved you?" I'm not sure if that's verbatim, but it's close enough. No, I've never worried about that.

You can replace the word "rich" with the word "famous" and ask the same question. The answer is still no. However, I do know that if one is famous, just from my tiny brush with notoriety, that people do in fact want to be with you, not for who you are, but for what you are. Does that worry me? Not in the least. But I think it's rather sad, mostly for them.

Of course, it doesn't worry me now, for fame and fortune don't look to be in the cards.

Now, for some Marilyn Manson:


Photo note: For the record, Marilyn Manson was the only person in Bowling for Columbine who had anything remotely intelligent to say. Okay, that's hyperbole, but it's pretty close to the truth.

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