Who is the most remarkable person you've ever met? It could be your mother, a friend by your side, a stranger on the train, or a brave Maybe a hero. Anyone, really. I want you to think about that as I share some of the things I've learned working as an interviewer, because I admire people, both famous and infamous, and scandalous. The bravest, most creative, persuasive, and fascinating people on this planet are the ones that only my friends and God know.
Let's start in the dimly lit bar of the luxurious and expensive Carlyle Hotel on New York's Upper East Side. This is the setting for the first of his 18 stories in my new book. everything is special: True stories about how we live, love, and care (Hodder & Stoughton). It was her 2017 and I came to meet the young woman I saw on her 100-foot tall billboard in Times Square. I hear a voice say, “Hey, how are you doing?”
Scarlett Johansson, the biggest female box office star in movie history, draws attention as she shrugs off a plain green hoodie. Johansson is dressed all in black, except for a Pollock-esque paint splatter on her Dr. Martens. “I can run around town like any other city rat,” she says, laughing lightly. She talks about her new movie and what it's like to be an Avenger. Her time passes quickly as she moves on to her twin brother, Hunter. “I now realize that I've always had my other half there. Being a twin affects all of your life. In close relationships, you don't want to feel alone. I realized that I choose people for a reason.”
I need to figure it out, but I don't because I'm dumbfounded by what's going on here. Conversations with Hollywood stars usually last only 15 minutes, but now she has been talking for more than an hour, and there are no PR plans. The empty part of my brain starts chattering away like a chimpanzee. This is fantastic. It's like a date…”
Yes, I know how deceptive that sounds. Johansson is widely considered to be one of the most attractive people on the planet, but frankly I disagree. I turned to my notes to try to shut the chimpanzee up, but unfortunately the next question was the one I had promised to ask his teenage daughter. “How does it feel to know that everyone looks up to you?” She laughed again. Nice. Well, that certainly sounds like a 15-year-old question! ”
Johansson said she feels like a normal person, despite her usual worries. “While many people I meet like me, and this is a very British way of saying, there is another half who just think things like: Who does this person think he or she is? you know what i mean? ”
Not really, but I'm careful now. This was all very intimate stuff, making eye contact and touching arms and knees here and there for emphasis, but I was too distracted to ask the obvious questions completely. I missed it. “Scarlett, that's lovely, but why are you still here with me?” That's a natural question. But I don't ask that. We just kept talking and eventually she left with a quick hug and a smile.
The next day, newspapers were full of articles about Johansson being photographed on the street without her wedding ring. There was speculation that his marriage to the French businessman was over, but his agent later confirmed this.
When we met for the interview, I began to realize that she must have had a really tough day. I wonder if she found some rest and shelter in her familiar bar, with a friendly stranger she could talk to without revealing too much.
see my past self
Johansson is a great actor, but that's not surprising. As a journalist, I missed that story. As a human, I couldn't understand who she really was. Because my vanity and my chatty inner chimpanzee got in the way. There are lessons I can take away from every encounter, whether it's a job interview or a date. Be aware of your feelings and failures, put them aside for a while, and let the other person talk and listen. Really Listen to what their words, voice, eyes, hands, and body language are saying. This isn't just good manners, it may be good for your faith as well.
Once you get past all the pomp and circumstance, you'll find a man or woman trying to understand the meaning of life
The German Jewish philosopher Martin Buber talked about two ways of seeing things, which we can call “it” and “you.” The first is someone who observes the other person in terms of the clothes they wear, their job title, their job, or how helpful they are. The second is to ask questions, listen, learn, be bold about who you are, and be willing to see the real person in others as well. It's difficult and sometimes risky to do, but it's worth it. The important thing here is what Buber said. “When two human beings interact with each other in a truly human way, God is the electricity that rises between them.”
As a follower of Christ, I believe that God is there, here, me, and you. He is everywhere, in every molecule, in every look, every touch, every laugh, every sunset, waiting to be noticed, waiting for us to notice, behind everything we can't hear once we hear it. Waiting for us to hear the music playing. If we can find a way to realize it, there is indeed a god in the electricity that Buber speaks of.
God dwells in the small things
The title of my book comes from a quote said about the great Australian writer Clive James and his attitude towards life in his final days before cancer struck him too soon. I met him towards the end and found James.[raging] I oppose the dying of the light” (as Dylan Thomas said). You might expect the same from a man who writes prose like a professional boxer. But he was also filled with a newfound sense of gratitude. With so few left, every moment was potentially precious. He found beauty in even the smallest things.
“He never went anywhere, hardly ever saw anyone, hardly had anything to eat, and yet every aspect of his life was filled with meaning,” said his daughter Klawen. said. “The fact that there were apples on the tree. Rain or shine. Everything was abnormal.” Wouldn't it be great if you could see it without waiting for the end like James did? The Bible teaches that all creation speaks the name of God (see Psalm 19:1, Revelation 5:13, Psalm 66:4). It also says that we are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), so could Buber be right? In opening, we may be opened to God.
I believe that “the deep calls the deep” (Psalm 42:7). And I realized that my work life was a little like that scene in the movie. wizard of oz Dorothy's view from behind the curtain. Once you get past all the glamor and status and fame and wealth and glamor, you, man or woman, sit alone like anyone else, struggling with your flaws, yearning for love, trying to figure out the meaning of life. You can see that.
By opening ourselves to each other, we may open the door to God.
This is the story of Tiger Woods seeking salvation, Her Majesty the Queen nodding along as a small congregation asks God to save her in song, It's true that Dame Vera Lynn will see her again in heaven This also applies to the story of Seamus Heaney, which makes you wonder if this is the case. Flirting at funerals, talking about how we are caught up in what St. Francis calls “the great chain of being,” and thinking that Reverend Desmond Tutu thought I was going to kill him. We talked about being there. You'll have to read about it, but it's enough to hear a Nobel Peace Prize winner screaming for his life as a car drives away, kicking up dust.
as a person
Tutu and I reunited on better terms before Nelson Mandela's funeral, by which time I had grown to love his interpretation of traditional African concepts. ubuntu. “Because we are here, I am here,” said Tutu. “Ubuntu is human nature and states that a lonely person is a contradiction. You can't be human if you're alone. I don't know how to talk about it as a human being. I don't know what to think as a human being. I don't know how to move forward as a human being. I have to learn how to be human from other humans. ubuntu I say that my humanity is tied to your humanity. I am here because of you. Human beings are human through others, and we need this communal harmony in order to survive. ”
This idea is central to this book because I've found it to be true in the lives of many people I've interviewed over the years (though not all of them realized it). . On the surface, the lives of the rich and famous involve paying agents, publicists, organizers, lawyers, accountants, therapists, drivers, cleaners, security guards, and, of course, all to maintain them. We rely on an army of loyal fans. On a deeper level, those who survive the longest value their coworkers, realize that fame is a team game, open up, relax, and find close friends who allow them to be themselves free of nonsense. Masu.
Another thing that is clear to me is that some of the bravest, most convincing, and fascinating people I've ever met weren't famous at all. That's why I asked you a question at the beginning. Have you ever thought about the answer? Find me on social media and let me know. I think it's someone I know personally, not through TV. The story of Bart, a working-class grandfather from south London whose life was changed forever on the eve of the war by an idea shared at a Salvation Army meeting that poor people like him were as precious as any king. But I might have said it.
The bravest and most persuasive people I've ever met weren't famous at all
And Zahra's story concludes the book. Her family was forced into exile, a story we all know as Christians. Our Lord was a refugee whose parents fled to Egypt to escape Herod's brutal soldiers. Zahra crossed the Channel in a rubber dinghy loaded with her belongings one Christmas morning, completing her journey of 7,000 miles. To me, it sounded like something out of an ancient folktale. The heroine travels long distances, overcomes great obstacles, evades monsters and tricksters, and proves her courage before finally finding peace and safety.
If we were not told to see people like Zahra as aliens and others, we would read and hear such stories as endlessly inspiring. isn't it. They are us. We should love them too because they are loved just like us. I know it's hard to remember when we're told out loud that certain people are less than human, that their worth lies in fame, beauty, money, and power, but these things are simply not true. there is no. My faith calls me to resist them.
My work life has been about seeing people not as labels like Christian or Muslim, right or left, young or old, but as fellow human beings, precious and deeply loved, despite all their flaws. He told me. I honestly believe that's what Jesus did. And I know that when you sit down and talk and share and listen and really open up, that's the moment when the electricity crackles. At that time, you can catch glimpses of the extraordinary everywhere. And then you may feel that God is near.
