We're all going to die, as a consiquence we all hope for some to die sooner. I can accept that
people die so when someone like Rodney Dangerfield dies at 85 it's sad but he had a good run, same with Janet Leigh.
Sunday when I returned home from baby sitting my mothers farm full of animals, which by the way has
a horse that's not long for this world, I picked up the latest Entertainment Weekly and while thumbing through it passed the
obits for Dangerfield and Leigh and thought well who's going to be number three. Well saddly Sunday night while laying
in bed watching television the news broke in with the story of Christopher Reeve's death.
That was shocking I had not heard that he was fighting a systemic infection (not that there's anything
I could have done) and for me the news was hard. I never met the man, and yes I rant on and on about about how unimportant
celebrity really is but as with everything in the universe there are exceptions. People as a rule will eventually disapoint
you, and I mean everyone so in my youth when looking for someone to look up to the only one I could find that would never
disapoint me was Superman. I rarely read comics, and I know Superman is a fictional character but in 1978 at the UA
Cinema on Canoga Superman the Movie changed my life. Mr. Reeve's preformance captured everything about a person that
is good and that stuck with me. I know I could never achieve that but it is nice to think that it is possible.
As an actor he continued to play interesting characters even in films I wouldn't normally watch (Somewhere in Time)
And he's fantastic in Death Trap and Noises Off.
As we all know his life took a dramatic turn in 1995 with his riding accident, at that point he became
Superman. How many of us could in the same situation never give up hope and give them selves fully to finding a cure.
There have been those that have criticized him for only taking up a cause when it directly effected him, I find that to be
a flawed way of looking at the situation. Again we all have the ability to fight for trueth justice and the American
Way but come on let's face it most of us watch PBS with out giving any money.
For me one of the most coragous acts on Mr. Reeve's part was that he never once blamed or credited
a "god" for anything following his accident. He was cripled due to a unfortuate accident and it was science and personal
strenghth that improved his condition.
It has been said that some achieve Greatness and other have it thrust apon them I think in
Christopher Reeve's case it was initially thrust apon him and he pushed to to levels beyond.
So next time you're depressed because you lost your job or your spouce left you or life just doesn't
seem fair. Think about Christopher Reeve a truely Superman.
Maybe it's just me.
