Is Celebrity Status Something To Celebrate?

I am continuing to re-publish posts from my archives until things settle down with work – yup – still intense!

I just walked past Niger Havers, well, actually, he walked past me.  I had finished work and my tired feet were trudging along and there he was.

Now…I have nothing else to say about Nigel Havers particularly… it’s just that it started me thinking about Jack (that is what we are calling my ex-flatmate, although that is not his real name).

You see…I thought about what it must be like to be a celebrity and for people to recognize you in the street. Maybe some celebrities like that, others I imagine don’t enjoy it quite as much.

But it is funny how “we” – the public – react to a celebrity.  I mean I didn’t do anything strange around Nigel Havers.  But for some reason my brain clocked him, and I could tell you now exactly what he was wearing and who he was with and what they were wearing and the conversation I overheard taking place.  Now I am not going to tell you any of that, because frankly it is none of my business, none of your business and it could be deemed an invasion of privacy (plus you might not be remotely interested).

The reason I am mentioning this is that I cannot tell you what any of the other hundreds of people I passed on the way home from work were wearing, or what they were talking about.  My brain did not clock them.

That’s the situation Jack faced.  People recognized him…people were interested because they knew who he was, people noticed what he was wearing, who he was with, the conversations he was having.  I am sure Nigel Havers may have had bitter experiences with the media where he has found something personal has been shared with the public that he may not have wished for strangers to know.

I can only imagine in the age of social media this can potentially be one hundred times more annoying!  The invasion of your personal life, including things that are deeply meaningful to you, could be quite a torment.  Nobody asks you if you are willing to authorize the sharing of what someone may have seen or overheard when you were out in public.  It’s just out there…and you might only realize 48K views and 32K likes later.

I have a couple more posts that I have prepared about the situation between Jack and me.  I am sharing things that are very personal to the two of us really. only, I have no intention of giving you any clues about who he is.  It is a story about a situation that caused stress and grief to both of us – it should never have happened.  But the last thing I want is for this to torment Jack.

I love Jack – as I have mentioned in other posts.  So, please remember that you are reading about a low point in the life of a wonderful man.  I know some have expressed a poor opinion of Jack in the past.  Just wait until you hear about what I did to Jack.

Now for those of you who are not quite sure who Nigel Havers is…he is a very famous actor…and most of us think of him in his role in the film “Chariots Of Fire”.

via Torment — Word of the Day Challenge

https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/09/06/your-daily-word-prompt-authorize-september-6th-2018/