contrast

I watched two TV shows last night - one on Bravo! and one on TLC. The Bravo! show was captivating and I gobbled up every second. The TLC show was also captivating but in a repulsive, an accident-you-can't-look-away-from sort of way. The Bravo! show was an excellent documentary about Canadian jazz/blues/roots legend, Jackie Washington. Jackie is an unbelievable character: a true natural performer. Self-taught on guitar and piano, Jackie sings hundreds, if not thousands of songs in a plaintive, wailing tenor, accompanying himself in a rough-hewn style that perfectly fits his personality. A smile never leaves his face. He was born the grandson of slaves in Canada and has lived all his life in and around Hamilton, ON, even refusing to travel to the U.S. until 1999. Jackie is in his mid-80's and still performs regularly, most often with Ken Whitley and Mose Scarlett. In his youth, he travelled across Canada and worked as a porter for CN Railways. It is quite obvious from every single interview with anyone who has known Jackie that this man has been a ray of sunshine in everybody's life. He smiles and laughs infectiously and makes everyone around him smile as well. He makes friends easily, loves to talk about his music, is completely unassuming and modest and loves life despite various fairly severe ailments he suffers. Jackie also happens to have a photographic memory: he remembers every important date, every face he's ever seen, every song he's ever heard, carries all his music around with him in his head. I've used the word "legend" to describe him and that is indeed what he is. Like someone said on the show: if everyone was like Jackie, there would be no wars. Jackie knows how to diffuse every situation with a smile and a song and he's disarmed everyone who has met him - friend or foe. I am willing to bet that anyone who has met him, have had their lives enriched - kids and adults alike. I know that mine's been enriched just by watching this show.

Conversly, the show on TLC featured numerous angry, sulky, scowling young people - mostly women - getting their arms, legs, bellies, backs and in some cases even faces tattooted by a tattoo artist in Miami. I think the show is called "Miami Ink". Difficult to judge people from a reality show but what I saw was a lot anger, resentment and, ultimetaly, just spiritual and intellectual emptiness. These people could only talk about either what pisses them of, or about the next tattoo they were going to get. It was quite disheartening in its stupid shallowness. Like watching an army of automatons, engraving ink in their skin, sputtering inanities. I cannot possibly imagine anyone's life being enriched by any of these people.

If only more of us could look away from the unimportant and mundane and be true to ourselves...but that often takes introspection AND hard work; qualities in short supply. I don't think someone like Jackie Washington is terribly introspective but he knows who he is and works very hard. The ink people have no idea who they are, don't work hard, if at all and need at least a smidgen of introspection to get them off their path of nothingness.

Soldier on, Jackie! You're the man!