Newsflash! We are about to get the autopsy results on Anna Nicole Smith! Thank God! Does this mean we won't have to hear about her anymore?? Why was her death reported as if it were news of national importance? I don't mean to dismiss her death. She had family and friends and a baby girl who will never know her Mom, and will never know which of the rumors and gossip are true. But as to how and why AN died and who the baby's father is?? Not only is this not important news, it really is none of our business!
This past weekend I attended the Cincinnati International Wine Festival for the first time! It was maybe not as big or as wild as I expected, but that is not so bad. It was plenty crowded but not so much that you had to wait too long to get your tastes. I was glad that the food went beyond cheese and crackers. And the drinks went beyond wine! Bailey's had a booth providing samples of Irish Cream, Chocolate Mint Irish Cream, and Caramel Irish Cream. Coincidentally, the Millstone coffee booth was directly across from the Bailey's booth. Not many people were drinking their coffee black. But, I am especially thankful for chocolate covered strawberries which are one of the best foods ever invented.
More importantly, on Saturday, the National Underground Freedom Center welcomed Paul Rusesabagina. If you don't recognize his name, he was the manager of the Hotel Mille Collines in Rwanda during the genocide. He was the inspiration for the movie Hotel Rwanda which starred Don Cheadle as Mr. Rusesabagina. (If you still don't know who he is, go get the movie and watch it right now.) Before he spoke, about 15 or 20 people gathered to watch the movie. I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger crowd. But I guess I shouldn't be. Hopefully, the small turnout is because everyone has already seen the movie. I had already seen it but it had been a few years, so I wanted to watch it again. (Sharon refused to view the movie ahead of time, because she didn't want to start crying in front of other people.) Yes, I cried there, but I was not the only one. I think one woman there was seeing the movie for the first time, because she audibly gasped and threw her hands in the air when Paul and Gregoire were driving along the fog-shrouded road after buying more food for the refugees at the hotel.
What made me cry? It started when the "Western" guests were being evacuated. There is an earlier scene when the UN General gives Paul the bad news. These scenes are not depicted in his book, so they were likely added to the movie to make a point. And rightly so. Even if these events did not literally take place, they still happened, over and over, and we need to know that. I cried because I was so ashamed. Ashamed to be a privileged white American. We should be ashamed. America, Europe, the UN.
Fortunately there was a fairly good turnout for Mr. Rusesabagina's talk. At least all the seats were filled so it was SRO. I still had hoped for a larger crowd. Of course, he has spoken in Cincinnati before so maybe most people have already heard him. I hope that's it. Even a few people who had told me they would be there, were looking forward to it, were not there. People of Cincinnati, you had the chance to meet a true hero. That word, 'hero' is overused so much these days, but here was someone who truly deserves that title. I am not even going to explain why. It should be so obvious. If you don't understand, go watch the movie. And read his book, "An Ordinary Man." If only more of us could be so "ordinary."
I know these things are not entertaining in the way we like to be entertained. I like to escape with a good comedy or fictional drama as much as anyone. But I am somehow drawn to these movies too. I'm not a fan of horror movies, but I'll go and watch movies about true horrors. I seem to be a minority in this. Blood and gore, special effects, fictional slaughterfest horror movies are immensely popular at the box office. So why do so many people flock to the fake horror and avoid the real? Yes, it is hard to deal with. Yes, it is very emotional. And yes we all have our own, very real problems to deal with. But I don't think its right for us to pretend the rest of the world isn't there or doesn't affect us. O.K. it's not fun to feel so helpless after watching real movies. I am not even asking you to do anything. I just want us all to be aware, to know what goes on out there.
