Sunday, February 18, 2024

WHAT MATTERS

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I was just watching a program on TV which featured an interesting interview with Hillary Swank, a two time Oscar award winning actress. (I have watched her, “P.S. I Love You” several times).

The actress had not always had it so good, as she experienced a somewhat difficult childhood. It seems she was a “behind the tracks” sorta girl; having lived in a rundown trailer park. She told about the other children in her life who taunted her about her home, and looks, and lack of potential. Later, when she became a Hollywood actress some of those now grown children looked her in the face, and said, “I always believed in you.” To which she related she always responded, “No, you didn’t!”

During the TV segment the interviewer spoke to her about a three year hiatus she took from acting. When asked why she was inactive for such a long time, a decision which might have been a deal breaker for her, she responded.

“My father was in bad health, and I took it on myself to take care of him.”

(and)

“Yes, it was a very long time, perhaps longer than I expected.”

As the interview continued, the news person asked,

“But weren’t you concerned that your career might never be what it once was?”

To which Swank smiled a wry smile, and said,

“Honestly, that was the least of my concerns. I loved my father more than I loved my career.”

I think God must have smiled along with the actress, and rewarded her with the gift of life; since she and her husband experienced the birth of a baby when she had reached the advanced age of 49.

Sadly, her father didn’t live long enough to meet his grandchild, but Swank made it extraordinarily obvious that she had no regrets about having dedicated a third of a decade making his waning years a bit more comfortable.

by Bill McDonald, PhD

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