The Oscars

A time for the rich and talented to get awarded for being rich and talented. A beautiful, elegant evening with a host that keeps the audience entertained and warm. Iconic names have owned that stage such as Bob Hope with a record number of years hosted, or everyone’s favorite late night host Johnny Carson, or legendary comedians Steve Martin or Jerry Lewis. Recently the ever-so prestigious Academy Awards asked one of the funniest people in comedy to host the Oscars, Kevin Hart, but while fans were ecstatic to have their favorite comedian prance around stage roasting actors for an evening of fun some were not so thrilled. With every grand announcement comes someone trying to ruin the mood. Please do not mistake what I am saying, spreading a homophobic message is hurtful to people and does no good in the world, and Kevin Hart needed to apologize. But when we really look at it, we all need to learn not to let things get under our skin especially if we have to scroll through years of Twitter feed to find a reason to be upset. Let us be happier people and love our fellow neighbor and realize when we fret about a joke that was spoken by someone that only spreads positivity, we grant power to the inappropriate message instead of the good done by Hart. We don’t want to give this control to hurtful words. We want to reserve power for positive messages and uplifting speech. The solution that I believe is key as we move forward is twofold. We must first understand that nothing spoken is private. We would like to believe that our best friend will keep things confidential, or that our boss will never discover our social media page but this is wishful thinking. When I was fifteen my father ran a retail store and was considering hiring a young individual. He first contacted this young man’s high school classmates and then had me check for a social media presence. He had pictures of him underage drinking and at parties where others were participating in illegal activities. My father is a good man and gave him a fair chance but before he was hired there was already an uneasiness in my dad’s mind. Next time before we speak remember that someone will never forget and we must be conscious about our rhetoric. The second part to the solution is comprehending that as people we all make mistakes. We will all have bad moments and we do not want those moments to define us so we should not force them to define others. Let us all spend a little more time loving others, and a little less time being offended. The more love we spread the better this world will be. Just a thought.