A Vessel For Ego

​BOOKS BY PATTI LISZKAY
​AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.

​A VESSEL FOR EGO

       Will Smith has apologized publically - if not terrifically contritely - to Chris Rock for hitting him at the Oscars ceremony the other night. Perhaps Smith's tepid apology, even if its purpose was mainly to excuse himself rather than to ask Rock's pardon, did at least serve to sort of glue back together whatever incorporeal, indescribable thing was broken by the world having to witness an act of violence committed by one person against another on live television.
​         But then, as I once read somewhere, a broken thing can be repaired, but it would be better if it hadn't been broken in the first place. And so it is with Will Smith: His apology-extra-lite to Chris rock may serve to somewhat repair the fallout of his misbehavior. But it would have been better by far - for Chris Rock and the rest of us who now have to deal with our own reactions to the incident and all the publicity it has generated - if Will Smith would have behaved himself in the first place.
       But what is it about this time that we live in?  From where came this pervasive moral ignorance that mistakes swaggering machismo for strength? That preaches that whoever can hit the hardest verbally or physically is right and is entitled - even expected - to do so? That it's admirable and  courageous to stomp on the rules of decency and law? 
      That it makes you a hero to assault on live television a comedian who made a joke about your wife's appearance? 
       Said wife, who, by the way, had no reason at all, regardless of Chris Rock's joke about her shaved head, to feel badly about her appearance as, even without her hair, Jada Pinkett Smith looked stunningly beautiful at the Oscars. 

     Which begs the question: As beautiful as Jada Pinkett Smith is in spite of the medical condition that caused her hair loss, as ultra-successful, super-wealthy, uber-famous, and enormously gifted with talent, good fortune, opportunity and every resource as the Smiths are, why would one little joke from Chris Rock rock their world? 

       the answer is because, as the whole world learned on the night of the Oscars, along with his great fortune and fame Will Smith also has a gargantuan ego which in fact makes his world a very fragile one. And so when Chris Rock, who gets paid to make jokes, made a joke at Will Smith's famous wife's expense he felt compelled and entitled to publically assault him. 
        Which begs another question:
       Why did Will Smith get away with publically assaulting Chris Rock? Weren't there security guards at the Oscars? Weren't there officials or administrators there who could have called the police? Weren't there hundreds of spectators in the audience and staff in the wings, any one of whom could have called 911?
       Why was nothing done? Why wasn't Will Smith physically escorted out of the venue? Why was he permitted to stay and a short time later handed an Oscar?
         That is what's really causing the public  agita over the incident: That Will Smith did what he did and, so far, has gotten away with it.
       And then we had to watch him be awarded an Oscar and listen to him praise himself in the form of a lame apology for doing what he did out of his abundance of love for his wife and talk about God and weep and call himself a vessel for love.​        

      A vessel for ego is more like it.
      A man doesn't show his love for his wife by decking a jester over a joke. A man shows his love by being a good, faithful, dependable, kind and loving husband, which, according to the vast accumulation of tabloid reports over the years, Will Smith has not always been to Jada Pinkett Smith. Nor, if these stories are accurate, has she always been the most faithful of wives to him.
      So it's likely that Smith's assault on Rock was merely an attempt to convince the world, his wife, and himself otherwise.