"Save me from a villainous imagination, deliver me from my friends.
If I said something to make you mad, I will take it back."
-Barenaked Ladies
March 21, 2007
What you heard was sour grapes
You all know that I do not HATE Angelina Jolie. I don't know the woman, so I can't hate her. I honestly believe that one cannot harbor hatred for another until they meet them and really get to know them. I honestly believe that. I have strongly disliked people in the past, only to get the opportunity to be proven incorrect in my feelings toward them.
By the way, never in my journaling history hs a "quote of the moment" been more apt. Thank you Ed Robertson and BNL for giving me today's quote. It is perfect.
My entry from the other day was filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing. It was sour grapes. It was jealousy. It was typical of how I write when frustrated, angry, faced with ridiculousness and absurdity. It was me, shadow boxing. As hard as I could. At the one person that I really see as someone who gets what she wants all the time... when so many get nothing and have to settle.
That said, I will let you know that I got a lot more feedback about that one journal entry than I have gotten in the nearly 6 years I've been maintaining this journal. People who were all gung-ho and fired up to go kick ass for Anya. And people who really came down hard on me for how I expressed myself.
How DARE you! How DARE you question her motives and how she conducts her life! She has been trying to adopt this child for MONTHS (cough, compared to the years and years and years other spend trying. Thank you for proving my point). She is a wonderful, giving, stupendous person and you have no right to call her out in the manner you did.
Well, yes. She is a wonderful, giving, stupendous person. I honest to God give her all the credit in the world for spending her money in ways that benefit others instead of buying solid gold bidets to wash her privates after she pisses. Bidets for all her 50 houses, one in each state.
I would much rather anyone with that kind of money adopt/purchase/buy off a government/whatever a child than buy any more BLING.
The conspicuous consumption and exploitation of goods and services that Robin Leach themselves into the mindset of the common man thanks to the behavior of people with Big Money sickens me. Celebrities gushing gold and flaunting their so called "style" on shows like MTV Cribs and just about everything broadcast at 7:30pm EST (except Simpsons reruns on Fox), or on the E! Network isn't a reality for 99.9 percent of the planet. And I don't buy into it.
So I'm proud of her for taking her money and putting it where her heart, is instead of buying ceramic tile inlay for her bathroom made from the dust of Pompeii and ground by hand by 10 year old blind virgins, at a cost of $10,000 a tile.
I'm sure someone would buy it if it were made.
Additionally, I give her and Brad credit for going to buy a home in New Orleans. Which, by the way, wasn't 100% wiped off the planet, like the media makes it out to be. They played it up that Angelina and Brad were buying a house where no houses EXIST! Where only tents and shacks and tar paper lean-tos are standing! What are they THINKING! Are they having a Britney Moment? Have they lost their dang fool minds!?
There is some decent real estate there, cheap for the taking. They did something that was both economically interesting and socially responsible. By buying a house in the Big Easy, she points out to others that it is okay to trust in the region, to take the chance to live somewhere that has suffered. To hopefully help build it back up. Yes. Kudos to her.
I really think that is awesome. I am not sure I'd buy a house there, because I think it could easily happen again. But she is trusting that it will not. And communicating to others that it is okay to believe in the bayou.
But.
It is my right to call anyone out here. This is, after all, my journal. And how I feel about something, whether or not you agree with me, will oft be expressed as I void my rheum. Somewhat humorously at times, somewhat viciously, somewhat pathetically.
Don't ever tell me it isn't my right to express my feelings. Especially through the anonymity of a fake email address sent to my hotmail, which I cannot even respond to to say "Oh no you didn't!"
You know who you are. You are a victim of the cult of personality. And I called out one of its Sainted Few... and you didn't like it.
Sorry if you were offended. But it is how I felt at the moment. A little strong, maybe, but that's a reality over here. One that I've kept in reserve for a while. Because impassioned speech calls the nutjobs out of the woodwork.
When someone you love is suffering... if you have a soul, you will speak with passion.
When someone you love finds themselves stranded and feeling incredibly hopeless, you may have a visceral response that calls you to shout out loud, yell and fingerpoint at what you perceive as something unfair or unjust. Even if you're not 100% correct.
I think a lot of people never step up to causes or issues because of the "It doesn't directly impact me so why should I give a crap" attitude so many Americans possess.
And because this is close to me, I'm a little extra over the top about how I feel.
I also am exceedingly proud of those of you who have left comments or sent email expressing empathy or anger over what Keri is going through. I'm proud of Bree for finding Brad Pitt's "people" and calling their number to make sure it is in service. I am proud of Amy for suggesting Oprah, Dr. Phil and Montel... all of whom I've written emails to and have begged for them to pay attention to this story.
Even if you have no way to help, expressing your empathetic feelings is a way of praying. It is a way of getting the collective spirit together and growing it stronger. And it is a lot more powerful than "Meh, whattayagonnado."
So thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
The other day, I had lunch with Keri. It was a really good time, and we had a lot of good laughs. I can't wait to see her again.
I know that when she receives the energy from others, she feels a lot more hopeful. She told me that she has had visions of Anya here. She has seen her in Marblehead, seen her with her sister at the ocean, seen what it is going to be like.
And seeing is believing, even when the seeing is generated by hopefulness. She is optimistic that this is all going to work out. But right now... it feels incredibly overwhelming and distressing.
Keri told me that she didn't used to like Angelina. Then she met her. And they talked forever about international adoption and life and kids and everything... her perception changed and she has so much respect for her.
That made me feel a little better too... that she had discussed these things with the woman that I kind of saw as the embodiment of everything wrong with international adoption, and this woman knows what other people go through. And she knows she is lucky, and what she does, she does at great cost.
That humbled me a bit and whetted down my anger.
Now we just have to get ahold of Oprah and get Keri and her girls on the TV and get this all resolved. I will keep you guys posted, of course.
Thanks for continuing to care.
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