The Known Unknown

I’m going to do something I didn’t plan on doing – today or really ever. I’m going to defend Gwyneth Paltrow. I know, right? 

Now, look, I don’t hate anyone. Period. I just don’t. There is a small handful of folks whom I love deeply…within an inch of their life. Outside of that group, there’s another, slightly larger, parcel of folks whom I enjoy for one reason or another and would, proverbially, of course, pee on them if they were proverbially on fire. Then there’s the rest of the world’s population…roughly seven billion people, give or take 200.

So, Gwyn made the news again yesterday for another snotty, entitled comment, this time likening her celebrity lifestyle to that of a soldier. I’m paraphrasing. Here’s what she was actually overheard to say:

“You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it,” Paltrow said at the conference. “My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience.”

Without having met her or knowing her, I will say my opinion of her is not great. I think she’s out of touch with reality, and she lives in a different world. The things she does and says, at times, make her appear to be indifferent, spoiled, and pretentious. She may be all of those things and more, but it’s not fair for me, or anyone, to judge her without knowing the whole story.

I try to be empathetic in my daily walk around this blue marble. The waitress who didn’t get my order right may have an abusive husband. The person driving the car in front of me who just sat through the entire green arrow may have just lost their job. 

This isn’t to say I am Ghandi or the Dalai Lama or some other highly enlightened person. I get irritated and run short of both temper and patience, and I demand excellence from everyone around me. Ask my husband.

So, to be fair to Gwyn, I’ll say this. She does live in a different world. And that’s not good or bad. It’s just, well, different. Her normal is not your normal and it’s not mine and mine’s not hers. Isn’t that what makes this blue marble great in the first place?