By Steve Walker
For the past two columns I
have written about comments made by characters in the “Touched by an Angel”
series that are currently rerun on a local cable channel. You could say I watch
them ‘religiously” every week.
Made in the 1990s, the
stories revolve around three angels helping people deal with every day life and
assisting them in facing the problems they encounter with an uplifting message.
By the end of the show,
everybody feels better and they make radical changes in their life to better
their situations in various ways.
One of the main characters
in another segment visited by an angel that touched a nerve in my life recently
was about an artist who throughout his life felt abandoned and ignored by his father
and art lovers who walked by his work in museums and paid no attention to them.
As he related his experience he blurted out, that being ignored was devastating
to him. He wanted to shout, “Here I Am.” (Pay Attention to Me!)
I can relate to that since
growing up in a family of six boys, I being the oldest, felt not only ignored
by my father, but berated by him for not being smart enough or not good enough
like my younger brothers. In my first four columns earlier this year I
chronicled my childhood and how I hopefully overcame many of my perceived
inadequacies.
When the artist in the
show actually cried out saying, “Here I Am,” I nearly lost it. It dawned on me
that his expression of hopelessness was one I could relate only too well.
Over the years my way of
coping with similar feelings was to quote actor Marlon Brando as the boxer
vying for a title shot in the 1954 movie, “On the Waterfront,” by saying, “I
coulda been a contender. I coulda had class. I coulda been somebody.” Those in
my age group know the movie well. That quote makes the top ten most quoted
lines from a film every year.
Ironically as I write this
column, my long haired cat, Afro-Dite interrupted me moments ago by wailing at
the bedroom door. As I stopped to see what she wanted, I realized she too was
saying “Here I Am.”
Once I petted and hugged
her and reassured her I was paying attention, she purred and lay down on the
rug near me. Not only a revelation from a TV series character, but my own cat!
Who knew?
As a retired teacher I
encountered many students over the years who I know experienced the same
feelings I felt growing up just wanting to be noticed. It is universal that we
all want to be noticed, appreciated and loved by friends and family and even
the world. But that is another column for another day. It is all in
perspective.
Anyway, as always, what I
write is “Just a Thought.”
Steve Walker is a Vietnam
Veteran and former Justice of the Peace and Journalist.
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