Tuesday, January 17, 2012

And So Can You

In God We Trust (LES)
Lower East Side

If you've missed the NY Times piece on Stephen Colbert that's been making recent rounds on the internet, check it out!  Or don't.  I'm not the boss of you.

The article is long-ish (or is it? I'm so ADHD-addled by social networking that I no longer have a good frame of reference for what constitutes "long."  In any case, it's over 140 characters) but it's a worthwhile read, as it offers interesting insight on Colbert's career arc, his political machinations, and his studies in Chicago with the shadowy character Del Close, father of long-form Improv.

Admittedly, that last part might not interest you as much as it interests me.

But here's something that might appeal to a broader audience - arriving in the second half of the article, amid a biographical sketch, Colbert reveals the lesson his mother taught him on framing tragedy and rising above it:
"In 1974, when Colbert was 10, his father, a doctor, and his brothers Peter and Paul, the two closest to him in age, died in a plane crash while flying to a prep school in New England. 
“There’s a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone’s becoming a comedian, but I’m not sure that’s a proven equation in my case,” he told me. “I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so.” 
He added, in a tone so humble and sincere that his character would never have used it: “She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain — it’s that the pain is actually a gift. What’s the option? God doesn’t really give you another choice.”"

Interesting thoughts from a funny, funny man.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kristy : ), thanks for saying hi on my blog. Interesting thoughts from Colbert! Thanks for sharin.... And I enjoyed the pictures throughout your blog. Hope to keep seein you here in blog-land : ). ~Julie