Category: Celebrating

Fifty years ago, they began hanging the Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Or, rather, inserting the Stars bearing the names of film celebrities into the granite sidewalk. The first Star was placed in 1960 to honor Joanne Woodward.

The Walk is homage to the film industry’s greatest contributors. Today it was packed with those seeking the names of favorite personalities. They paused and squatted as their companions furiously snapped pictures for souvenirs. This tradition occurs endlessly, day after day, week after week, decade after decade.

The Walk of Fame is the intersection of the living and the dead. In a cemetery, we expect to see the names who have gone on before. When we view the Walk of Fame Stars, kneeling as we do at a cemetery, something odd happens. The dead and living are united on a single, long plane that extends for several city blocks. Here, with no dates appearing anywhere on the Stars, their contributions are brought alive together, as if all are resurrected.

The devotion and hard-earned contributions of saints living, and saints gone on before, all are viewed together. That’s how I re-frame it. I reassign names and deeds of those who are dearest to me: saints both famous and anonymous, the apostles, my family, friends who walk beside me, mentors and teachers. There, together, they are part of the tapestry that is my life.

My personal Walk of Fame will turn 60 next year. How wonderful if, in time, our names may adorn the Walk of another.

Sunday’s soccer World Cup Championship game between Spain and Netherlands capped a long series that only occurs every four years. Neither country had won previously, so the stakes were high–and exciting–for each. The game was decided in overtime, in a 1-0 Spanish victory. I watched part of it on Sunday at the L.A. Farmer’s Market, where I shot this picture of a very involved crowd.

I grew up in Germany, so I’m supposed to “get” soccer. I love the simplicity of the equipment required (how complicated is one ball?), and the nearly universal international appreciation for the sport.

But I have a suggestion. Could we have more scoring? That would make it more like real life, where we make incremental progress. Okay, give big soccer points for scoring a goal. But also give a few points for getting a good shot on goal. Award points to the team with the fewest fouls. And sprinkle a few points to the team with the sharpest-looking (or least offensive) uniforms. Does nearly every game have to be neutralized by a 0-0 tie or decided in a spare 1-0 victory?

If it were more like life, I could relate. Give me a point for shaving and a point for brushing my teeth. As a man, I’ll need a point for wearing clothes that match and another if they’re clean. I’ll take two points for getting to work on time, and a couple of dozen for being a good husband or dad for the week.

If I have to wait to earn a lone 1-0 score by becoming famous or rich before I finish my race, it’ll be a long time coming. By that standard, I’ll far more likely end in a 0-0 draw.

Please, let’s give more points for soccer, and for each one of us, more than the lonely and super-rare “GOOOAAALLLLLLLL!”