This Sunday I’m going to be conducting an intimate conversation with Jon Gosselin at the West Side Jewish Center in Manhattan.
America has to start having serious conversations about fame.
Celebrity is undermining our culture; not only because so many
people who attain it find that their lives have been severely
disrupted, but more importantly the obsession with celebrity is pulling
us away from our own lives as we focus so much more on our movie stars
and television stars than even on our own marriages and our own
children.
In the case of John Gosselin my reading of him from many
conversations with him and many counseling sessions is that he’s a man
with a good heart who sincerely wants to correct many of the mistakes
he’s made having gotten carried away with fame.
I believe it when he tells me that he wants to be a moral example to
his 8 children and that he admits that he has made serious errors and
that he requires the guidance to find his way out of the celebrity
labyrinth. And lets face it, so many people are hit with fame
especially when it comes overnight and they do things of which they’re
not proud.
Our job is not to dismiss them and ridicule them, but for those who
really want to find a moral path our job is to get them to consecrate
their fame and celebrity to a higher cause, to a higher purpose.
The fact is that becoming famous is a bit like winning the lottery.
It could be a great blessing and one can do great things with fame–you
can highlight causes of poverty, you can work hard to promote charities
or you can make it about self absorption and all about you.
i have tried very hard to impress on John that fame is a phenomenal
responsibility. That there are serious moral and ethical implications
to a celebrity status and trying to be an important role model. And it
is my hope that this conversation will highlight those issues and have
all of us in America have a healthier relationship with celebrity.
Join us on Noveber 1st for this intimate discussion on whether fame
is a blessing or a curse, and how to turn one’s fame into a higher
calling.
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