Thoughts

Again bored by Sunday night football, I turned to Bravo and caught an episode of Inside the Actors Studio; James Lipton's guest was John Travolta. As this was the first time I've seen the show, I cannot speak to the frequency of good guests, but Travolta blew me away. He was remarkably down to Earth and just seemed to be a normal guy (no, I do not often get this impression when I see celebrities give interviews). He told many stories of how different people had influenced him and helped him along his career and you could see that he took every opportunity he had to do the same for others. He was very sincere in his responses to questions from the audience. He was more than just honest; you could tell that he was not regurgitating stories as answers, he was custom fitting his answers, tailoring them in the best way possible to help the person who asked. You could not only see and hear, but feel that he was not only telling the audience what he thought on the subject, but also was telling them in a way that he hoped the information will one day be useful. He knows he has the influence and uses it to make a positive impact. He even took the time at the end to dance with a young woman from the audience (Pulp Fiction style). Ok, it's hard to describe, but hopefully I have not confused you too badly.

The highlight of the interview (and main point of this post) was a story involving Nicolas Cage. Travolta was asked if he remembered a story in which he helped Nic with his perspective on life. I apologize as I do not remember the terminology exactly, but his point to Cage was simply the "Art of Living." It was a message that helps you to enjoy the simple things, the subtleties, even the finer points of life. Travolta says that growing up he always did things differently from his friends. He often would find himself in a little French restaurant where for $5 he could get a glass of wine and a small meal instead of the diner down the street where he would get a burger and fries for the same amount. He would spend the same amount of money to see a foreign film as his friends would an American one. He did these things because they made him feel as though he had done more. To him that money was well spent. He was able to walk away from the main stream and find experience in new things. He cited this story as something that had helped shape him as a person, and it is definitely something that shapes me. I could not relate better to any story told.

There is no lecture for the end of this post. That is not my intention. The reason I decided to post this topic was to serve as a reminder to those who used to live this way and a suggestion to those who never have. I will not try to talk anyone into trying to "live" a little, if that is not what they want to do, but I do suggest it to everybody.