I watched West on the Jay Leno premiere show on Monday night. Knowing West would be a guest, I wasn't sure I was even going to tune in; but who wants to look away from a train wreck. I don't pretend to know what was going through the young successfully troubled musicians mind, but his face didnt disappoint. His face and body language demonstrated what any reasonable person would have been ashamed of having paraded through the media. I was struck by his humility. Leno was engaging and appeared personally concerned for the events West found himself drowing in. Then came the longest deadair time I have seen other than the mom in the commercial glaring at her son concerning thrown away minutes. Apparently Leno had known West's mother and had gained a good sense of who she was. When Leno asked West the question regarding how his mother would feel about what he had done, I was as breathless as the night I watched the Michael Jackson video where he beats up a poor defenseless car at the end. Had there been crickets, their voices would have rang out like Hurricane Katrina. Long moments passed before West responded, his face a mirror of the internal conflicts at war inside. To Leno's credit, it didn't appear some cleverly designed media arrow to wound someone already down; but a genuine hope to make a positive impact in a bad situation. Of course, after West locked himself behind the dark shades he applied to his face for the upcoming performance only minutes later, I wondered if the depth of such a question was as easily put away.
For someone who's mouth has often landed them at the front of public backhand, concerned folks hope that West is surrounded by some good people and that the ear of West actually listens to good council. I can only imagine what would have been said or done had someone ran upon stage while he was accepting an award, spewed out some trash and disrespectfully shoved the microphone back into his speechless hands. Lastly, why would you pick on a very talented, polite, defenseless girl in front of a national audience? It felt like I was watching Carrie all over again. Bad, bad behavior. Things sure are a long way from Jesus Walks....
Whether it's the President of the United States of America or a homeless person on the street; we all should expect some level of descent respect from each other. It's like driving down the highway. Down the middle of the road is a thin line of trust, hope and respect for the oncoming traffic; give it's due. They say time heals all wounds. I am not sure history reflects that to be true.
Congrats Taylor!!!
2 comments:
Very well said Mr. Russell... but I think you should have given a shout out to Beyonce for how she ended the night with class.
Drinking (apparently) copious amounts of alcohol probably didn't help. What's the old saying, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger...we'll see if that's true.
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