PUBLIC PEOPLE IN PRIVATE PLACES

Public people are just like the rest of us.

They just find themselves in front of cameras more often than not.

Now that everyone has a camera everyone’s a journalist, everyone’s a star.

And everyone loses a little more of their private place.

I had a place I liked to walk through in Portland because it reminded me of what it takes to make a city run.

It was a city block of trucks and deliveries, of trash bins and loading docks.

My private reverie was ruined the day I saw someone I knew taking selfies in a dark corner to add to their mystique.

Instead of living the life of a tortured poet, they were just passing through like the rest of us and taking pictures along the way.

 

Flowing Day To Day

How often do you meet people who struggle more than others.

They’re going upstream in a downstream world.

It doesn’t mean they’re going the wrong direction, they just have a different vision.

Eventually, and it’s been proven time and again to you, to me, to everyone, we’re all going downstream.

Old men skip haircuts and start looking like a grandma ready to crochet a comforter; old ladies start cutting their hair short and looking like grandpa ready to change the oil in the tractor.

Call it a journey, or call it living life.

The problems start when public people show the rest of us we’re doing it wrong.

We don’t need to show our age with the great advances in cosmetic surgery.

We don’t need to show our bank balance, either.

Get enough cometic surgery and you’re showing plenty.

 

That Most Private Of Moments

It happens when you look yourself in the eye while looking in a mirror.

It happens when you ask yourself, ‘Who is this?’

After you get too much work done it’s a real question.

Fuller lips? Higher cheekbones? More jawline?

So you do it all and just look at you with the questions.

The whole second guess and doubting routine is harder when you make what seem like permanent changes.

Old friends will take a look and think, ‘Why not?’

New friends won’t know the difference. At first.

Will you be the only one asking themselves, ‘What did I do?’

If you decide to throw yourself into something new, like your nose, a flat stomach, or a cult, first ask yourself:

 

You: If this turns out worse than expected, am I good with it?

You: If the results are the opposite of what was promised, who do I blame?

You: If  I make changes that make others lives’ worse, is it bad?

 

A new nose might make other big nosed people in your family feel like freaks.

Even if that’s not a goal, it happens. Why put them through that?

Once you make a decision, and stick with it, it yours. Things go wrong? Do you go wrong, too?

Unless you have secret goals to make others miserable, don’t make drastic changes.

Your nose if fine.

Do more homework.

Strive to help those you care about have a better day because you’re in it.