What a hectic two days! We arrive home after a resting and emotional trip to Tahoe and Angels Camp. There are piles of mail, a lawn that needs harvesting, a whining dog that needs some loving attention, e-mail to get caught up on, and a business trip to pack for. Somehow all of it gets done, and there is a bit of satsifaction in conquoring the challenge.
Sunday night was a study in contrast for the Paulson family. There was the glitz and glamor of the 78th Academy Awards Ceremony, and there was the homespun satsifaction of attending the Eagle Ceremony for a young man we had watched grow up before our very eyes.
We Tivo'd the Academy Awards and headed off for the Eagle Ceremony for John Francis Murphy IV at Westlake Lutheran Church. The Academy Awards this year was an exercise in obscurity. The movies nominated for Best Picture were not epics, they were niche movies with small budgets and even smaller audiences. Thank goodness they had clips, or people might not have even known what they were about. OK, I confess that I liked Walk the Line and Pride and Prejudice. I even found the Best Picture winner, Crash, a thought-provoking, well-acted movie. But as usual, the Academy and Hollywood are as out of the mainstream of America as you can be. All the buzz was about gay themes and transvestite characters. Still others focused on trashing US covert operatons and the drug industry. Emcee John Stewart said it best: "A lot of people say this town is too liberal, out of touch with mainstream America. An atheistic pleasure dome. A modern day beachfront Sodom and Gomorrah. A moral black hole, where inocence is olbiterated in an endless orgy of sexual gratification and greed. I don't really have a joke here. I just thought you should know a lot of people are saying that. I been to the parties!"
The Academy loves edgy pieces, and their ownly safe targets for antagonists are rich, evil business executives or Republican politicians. They save the best roles for liberal characters that can't win in the real world. As the emcee, John Stewart, said, "The Oscars is really, I guess, the one night you could see all your favorite stars without having to donate money to the Democratic Party. And it's exciting for the stars as well. This is the first time many of you have voted for a winner. No, it's good--enjoy. Enjoy your votes!"
I celebrate the freedom in America we have that allows people to be critical of America's culture, but don't suggest that their statements are courageous. Their "courageous" peices get awards. It would be courageous for a film to show a Republican character making a difference or an executive who actually turned a city around by investing capital to create jobs. Ah, but that would be seen as selling out. Courage is not standing alone in Hollywood; "courage" is saying something all liberals will applaud.
As I sat in John's eagle scout ceremony, the emcee quipped that the best supporting actor award goes to Debbie Murphy, John's mother, for all the work she has done to shepherd John through the scouting maze. This was America at its best. We celebrated values worth valuing! We talked about a young man giving over 300 hours of service, of going above and beyond expectations and leading other younger scouts.
The mayor of Thousand Oaks was there to congratulate John. There were letters from Presidents, a flag that had flown at the US Capital and a brief acceptance speech. This was an event worth televising. Other families had bought their young scouts to see what could happen to them if they work hard.
I congratulated one of the Scout Masters after the event. I told him that we had increased our support of the Boy Scouts ever since the ACLU had made them a target. He was gracious in his reply, "The ACLU has done some good things over the years, but their efforts against the Boy Scouts of America has taken dollars and hours of volunteer time away from being able to invest in the lives of so many young men like John Francis."
This organization has made a difference in my own life. I was a Boy Scout in Atlanta. It was an active troop with frequent outings and the expectation of reaching eagle was strong. I made it to Life Scout and was a member of the Order of the Arrow. It gave me a love of backpacking and a confidence in my ability to handle most survival situations in the wilderness. When I moved to California, I joined a troop that loved to camp and play, but there was no history of excellence. As a Life Scout, I was the most decorated scout they had in the troop. I did not reach eagle. The dogs I laid with were great kids, but they did not aspire to achievement.
Any guess as to which award ceremony means more to me and, I think, to America? Give me more eagle scout ceremonies and young men equipped and ready to be responsible young men. I'd rather support an organization that celebrates what is right with America and tries to perpetuate that than patronize Hollywood liberals eager to bash anything American in pursuit of artistic "excellence." Supporting freedom of expression does not mean we have to enjoy or pay ten dollars to see what they think is worthy of an Academy Award.
