![]() ![]() “This took guts,” Hillary Clinton tweeted. Smith into an online sensation, at least on one side of the abortion divide, with prominent opponents of the law amplifying her message. But when she got onstage at Lake Highlands High School on Sunday, she instead used her three minutes at the podium to address what she saw as a greater issue: the new abortion law in Texas.Ī video of the speech was widely shared online, drawing international headlines and turning Ms. But I learned as much from them as I did from the things that worked.Paxton Smith, the valedictorian at her Dallas high school, had planned to deliver a speech about the news media at her graduation. There are stories of mine that have never been reprinted. And where would be the fun in making something you knew was going to work? And sometimes the things I did really didn’t work. And while I was doing them, I had no idea. Looking back at them, people explain why they were inevitable successes. The things I’ve done that worked the best were the things I was the least certain about, the stories where I was sure they would either work or more likely be the kinds of embarrassing failures that people would gather together and discuss until the end of time. “The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself, that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right. Neil Gaiman at the University of the Arts, 2012 ![]() But just as importantly - and this is the part I may not get right and you may not listen to - if you do get your dream, you are not a winner.” So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it, you haven’t failed, and you’re not some loser. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. And I love it, because thankfully dreams can change. Today, I am a beardless, suburban dad who lives in a house, wears no iron khakis, and makes Anthony Weiner jokes for a living. He dreamed of living alone - well, alone with his beard in a large, barren loft apartment, lots of blonde wood, wearing a kimono, with a futon on the floor and a Samovar of tea constantly bubbling in the background, doing Shakespeare in the street for homeless people. “You have been told to follow your dreams, but what if it’s a stupid dream? For instance, Stephen Colbert of 25 years ago lived at 2015 North Ridge with two men and three women in what I now know was a brothel. Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University, 2011 It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can be a catalyst for profound reinvention.” But the point is this: it is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. And none of us are - my peers and I have all missed that mark in a thousand different ways. David Letterman wanted to be Johnny Carson, and was not, and as a result my generation of comedians wanted to be David Letterman. And yet his failure to completely become his hero made him the funniest person of his generation. He emulated Jack Benny, but his own quirks and mannerisms, along with a changing medium, pulled him in a different direction. In some ways he was, but in many ways he wasn’t. And a much younger man named Johnny Carson wanted very much to be Jack Benny. He was a giant star and easily one of the greatest comedians of his generation. “Way back in the 1940s there was a very, very funny man named Jack Benny. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |