The Truth Behind John Belushi's Final Flight

 

The uncontrollable end of John Belushi, as described by his agent, Bernie Brillstein, in Where Did I Go Right?

"One day in early March 1982, I flew with John Belushi from Los An­geles to Martha's Vineyard in a private jet. We had it all to ourselves. He was thirty-three. I was fifty-one. The accommodations were first class and we should have been having the time of our lives. We weren't. In fact, John Belushi no longer had a life. He was stretched out across two cramped seats in the tiny jet, wrapped up in a body bag. Our destination was his funeral.

"Everybody loved John Belushi. The problem was that he didn't love himself enough to believe he had value in the world and that he wasn't indestructible. As John's TV, then movie, career took off, and his fame grew, so did his inability to control his appetites. After he left Saturday Night Live, his life lost the discipline having weekly responsibilities im­posed, and his erratic behavior became more frequent. Total strangers gave him drugs just to get close, to be cool to tell their friends they'd done it. And John consumed it all. It wasn't just an over-large lust for life; he was trying to fill a hole inside. If God hadn't created drugs, John would have found something else to abuse. Lorne and I thought Belushi craved love and acceptance. I could identify with that. I wanted the same things; we all do. But instead of using drugs, I became a personal manager.

"Belushi could be, and often was, a great guy. The rest of the time, as he careened toward the end he was either crashed out or out of control. Those who cared about him would say, 'You're hurting yourself and the people who love you,' but he'd just try to charm his way past the warnings. When I pushed him too hard to straighten up, he'd tell me to back off.

"There's nothing more painful than watching a man you love de­stroy himself. I don't know why it happens. I'm not a psychologist, though sometimes in my job I have to act like one. I suppose there are as many reasons as there are people who [mess] up: Fear of success. Fear of failure. Fear of being a fake. Feelings of worthlessness. A need for love. Arrogance. Narcissism. They're played out with drink, infidelity, drugs, domestic violence, and other weird behaviors that are hard to imagine. Even performers who aren't screwed up sometimes act this way, so it's hard to tell what's going to happen or how serious it is -- until it's some­times too late."

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...Whatever your fear or source of pain or lack of self-esteem causes you to do that distracts you from recognizing God's unquenchable love for you, get rid of it now, before your own "it's sometimes too late" moment catches you off guard.

Seventeen Years Ago Today

I've been reading through my old journals to see if there were any nuggets of truth worth sharing here. While I'm not sure about the concept of worth, the following entries are certainly timely, considering today's date.

[A word of explanation: At the time these were written, I was working through the night, sleeping during the day, and waking up at about the time my children came home from school in the afternoon.]

September 12, 2001, Wednesday
     Yesterday afternoon, I was getting up just as Curtis came home from school. He came in and asked if I knew about all the stuff. "I just got up. What do you mean?"
     Then he said that the World Trade Center towers in NYC weren't there anymore; that some planes got hijacked and flown into them, etc.
     I kept saying, "No way...C'mon get real...what's the punch line?" until we went downstairs and turned on the TV.

September 14, 2001, Friday
     So, Lord, what do YOU think? Is this going to end up being a war? Or a prolonged crime investigation? Is this finally the beginning of the end?
     Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

September 15, 2001, Saturday
     Yahweh, silence the foolish talkers; those who would seek attention for themselves by spouting off sensational myths in response to Tuesday's attacks. Keep them from furthering the stereotype of Christians as narrow-minded, reactionary, and judgmental. Take the goose-down out of their blanket statements. I pray specifically against their sweeping generalities.
     Thank You for the opportunity that Franklin Graham took to preach the Gospel in his brief interview with Tom Brokaw Friday night!
     And may the nation's prayers turn from "strengthen and protect us" to "forgive, save, and change us."

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...It's seventeen years later, and that change in our national prayers is still needed.

Comedians in Cars Getting All Superior

The history of comedians goes at least as far back as the court jesters of old...although I think when God created the platypus He was ROFLOL.

Partly because of that background of speaking truth to power (veiled in laughter), today's comedians  -  and stand-up comics in particular  -  have no problem in expressing their opinions. After all, that's pretty much what most stand-up routines are...a person gets in front of people and tells them things that he thinks are ridiculous: "This is what I think. Isn't it crazy that the world is like this? Look at such-and-such. That's so stupid!"

It's not a huge leap, then, for a person to start thinking his thoughts about things ought to be agreed to by everyone. [Of course, I recognize that I think that about the thoughts I express here, too.]

Case in point: an episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, in which Jerry is having a conversation with Ricky Gervais. Most of it was fairly interesting and mildly amusing, but there was one little interchange between the two men that I haven't been able to ignore.

RICKY

I really think the death penalty is too depressing to even think about. I don't - I mean I don't agree with it that the state can show that sort of form of violence.

JERRY

What about abortion? Do you agree with that?

RICKY

Yeah, but that's different, isn't it.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

First of all, the period at the end of "that's different, isn't it" is intentional. He wasn't asking a question. He was making a statement and assuming agreement.

Secondly, just so there's no misunderstanding, I, too, don't agree with the death penalty. I know there are philosophical arguments in favor of it, but they don't persuade me. The moment I take someone's life, I take away that person's opportunity to choose Christ...which is exactly the opposite of what I ought to be about.

Thirdly, and most importantly, yes, Mr. Gervais, abortion is indeed different from capital punishment. In the case of abortion, we are 100% sure that the person being killed is absolutely innocent.

Truth is...there is a stereotypical alignment of attitudes about these two issues. On one side, it seems that those who support the availability of abortion generally think capital punishment is wrong, and on the other side, pro-life proponents are typically viewed as being in favor of capital punishment. It seems to me that either of these stances is illogical.

As a side note, it may interest you to know that Seinfeld responded to Gervais in a way that I thought was going to bring the whole episode to a screeching halt: "I guess, uh, you can just arrange things the way you like them...when you're rich...famous...like you."

Criticizing Critics

Speaking of the television series Blue Bloods, and we were doing just that just two weeks ago, an episode Beloved and I watched recently included the oldest grandchild of NYC's police commissioner encouraging her grandpa by reading the following manly-man quote from Teddy Roosevelt.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Truth is...in these days when people posture and complain and protest at the drop of a hat; when we think we know the facts of a matter when as a matter of fact we have only been reading a Twitter feed; when The Freedom of Speech is defended only for those who agree with me; it seems this quote is as timeless as it is tough.

An Unfunny Funny

Lio is one strange kid.

GoComics.com has an accurate description of the comic strip, Lio: The world of Lio is filled with the extraordinary - monsters under the bed, wild reptile pets, robot inventions, weird science - but it's all commonplace for this most uncommon first-grader. Mark Tatulli renders this pantomime strip in pen-and-ink style, giving the artwork a dark, spidery feel to match the strip's dark humor. Lio explores the twisted realm of a kid's imagination - at once bizarre, creepy, and fun.

And in a recent Sunday installment, you could add Good Example to the list of descriptors. It starts with a television set that seems to have become self-aware...and very, very honest.

And then little Lio shows amazing maturity in how he responds to this Truth.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Truth is...even with the lack of advertisements on Netflix, it's a little disingenuous for me to hold this up as a good example when I'm typing this between binged episodes of Blue Bloods. 

When E. F. Hutton Speaks...

Am I the only one here old enough to remember the E. F. Hutton commercials?

The scene would be a busy restaurant or a tennis match. Two people would be having a semi-private conversation, and one would say to the other, "Well, my broker is E. F. Hutton, and he says-" at which point, all other activity and noise would immediately stop and everyone's attention would be focused; intent on hearing the sage advice of E. F. Hutton. "When E. F. Hutton speaks, people listen."

I had an E. F. Hutton kind of moment recently while reading A Glimpse of Jesus, by Brennan Manning. When one of your favorite writers chooses to pass along a lengthy quote from "the most important book [he's] read outside the Bible"  -  a book that "has revolutionized [his] understanding of Christ and the meaning of Christian discipleship"  -  it might be a good idea to pay attention.

Hence, this excerpt from On Being a Christian, by Hans Kung.

The church of Jesus Christ is a home not only for the morally upright but for the moral failures and for those who for a variety of reasons have not been able to honor denominational teaching. The Church is a healing community proclaiming the Father's indiscriminate love and unconditional grace, offering pardon, reconciliation and salvation to the down-trodden and leaving the judgment to God.

A Church that will not accept the fact that it consists of sinful men and exists for sinful men becomes hard-hearted, self-righteous, inhuman. It deserves neither God's mercy nor men's trust. But if a Church with a history of fidelity and infidelity, of knowledge and error, takes seriously the fact that it is only in God's Kingdom that the wheat is separated from the tares, good fish from bad, sheep from goats, a holiness will be acknowledged in it by grace which it cannot create for itself.

Such a Church is then aware that it has no need to present a spectacle of higher morality to society, as if everything in it were ordered to the best. It is aware that its faith is weak, its knowledge dim, its profession of faith halting, that there is not a single sin or failing which it has not in one way or another been guilty of. And though it is true that the Church must always dissociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinners at a distance. If the Church self-righteously remains aloof from failures, irreligious and immoral people, it cannot enter justified into God's kingdom. But if it is constantly aware of its guilt and sin, it can live in joyous awareness of forgiveness. The promise has been given to it that anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

Truth is...forgiveness and grace are a messy business, and it's good to have close companions along the way. That's what I call Church, and that's what I wish for each person reading these words.

Letterman Live...Almost

A long, long time ago...

...I can still remember how I accompanied our only son, fresh out of high school, to New York City. He was entering a two-year course of study at Circle in the Square Theatre, and I was spending four days with him; helping him learn the subway system and trying my best to let go.

Just for kicks, we had arranged to attend a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman. (Yes, even though it appears to be a live show, it [and all the other late-night talk shows] are taped the afternoon prior to broadcast.)

Prior to picking up your tickets and entering the theater, a couple staff members walk along the line of waiting audience members...just chatting with people, getting a feel for the personality of the people attending that day...but also looking for possible participants in any audience-participation game that might be played in that particular episode.

Curtis and I were thrilled to be picked as possible players in that night's game. We were instructed to leave the line we were in and go around to the stage entrance (right next to the Hello Deli, for those of you familiar with the show) where we would be ushered in (along with others) at the appropriate time to take seats along one of the aisles, making ourselves available for David Letterman's merriment.

The door opened, an assistant waved our anxious little group in, and within 10 steps, we found ourselves walking across the stage where people like Tom Hanks and Paul McCartney come out to the sound of thunderous applause.

My first thought was, "Wow, this is a lot smaller than how it looks on TV." My second thought was, "Hey we better book it off stage into those aisle seats, because the rest of the madding crowd is coming in and starting to fill the place."

As it turned out, Curtis and I weren't picked to actually interact with Mr. Letterman, but we enjoyed watching the show...on the large monitors at the front of the seating area.

That's right. There we sat...not 20 yards from where Letterman was interviewing Jennifer Lopez, and instead of watching them, we were experiencing the show like we always did...on a television screen.

Truth is...it's really easy to go through our whole lives like that; business-as-usual, ho-hum, it-is-what-it-is. But Jesus came so we "may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) Let's not be guilty of "playing GameBoy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon" (Steven Curtis Chapman). Or as Rich Mullins put it: "So go out and live real good and I promise you'll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you're dead, you'll be rotted away anyway. It's not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn't live."

Conan O'Brien's Lesson on Handling Hard Times

Conan O'Brien is a freakishly tall, angular, oddly-funny redhead. You may recognize the name from the writing staff of The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live and, oh yeah, sixteen years as the host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Also of note are the seven months he spent as host of The Tonight Show...seven months that ended with the job being taken away from him because Jay Leno's move to prime time was a disaster that everyone except the NBC executives foresaw.

With that absolutely unfair event in mind, Mr. O'Brien's final broadcast as host of The Tonight Show included some of the most gracious words ever spoken by a professional comedian.

Please enjoy this bit of kinetic typography by Jacob Gilbreath.

Click here to view the Vimeo video in a new window.

Truth is...when it comes to handling disappointment and upset, one's attitude may very well be everything...or at least as close to everything that anyone's ever going to get.

Back to Mayberry...Please

With the - literally - explosive week that has just gone by in West, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts, any number of people are reacting in any number of ways...some constructive and helpful, others maybe not.

While the following video, shared on Facebook by who-knows-at-this-point, certainly falls in the "maybe not" category...it offers no solutions, and is just a longing for things to be different than the way they are...it still strikes a chord within me.

With apologies to, and sympathy for, those unfamiliar with The Andy Griffith Show, here are the Bellamy Brothers:

Truth is...even when the show first aired (1960-1968), it was an expression of longing for a type of society that was rapidly dying. Little wonder the show and the song cause a case of nostalgia. Still...we all could use a lot more Mayberry and a lot less Jersey Shore.

One Year Ago

March 25, 2012...

• 706th anniversary of Robert the Bruce being crowned King of Scots
• 344th anniversary of the first horse race in America
• 205th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by the British Parliament
• 136th anniversary of the first soccer match (in Glasgow; Scotland defeated Wales, 4-0)
• 130th anniversary of the first pancake-making demonstration (in a department store in New York City)
• 92nd anniversary of Greek independence
• 73rd anniversary of Billboard Magazine's introduction of the country music chart (at the time, called "hillbilly")
• 68th anniversary of RAF Sgt Nickolas Alkemade surviving a jump from his bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute
• 58th anniversary of the first color television set (made by RCA; 12 1/2" screen; $1,000)
• 45th anniversary of The Turtles' "Happy Together" going Number One
• 43rd anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's first bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)
• 30th anniversary of Wayne Gretzky becoming the first NHL player to score 200 points in a season
• 172 years before the birth of Pavel Andreivich Chekov (Star Trek character)

Oh, and one more thing...

• The first appearance of this blog, which most assuredly will not be commemorated to the extent of any of the above anniversaries

Thanks go out to HistoryOrb.com for the above facts, and to you readers...for commenting, following, liking the Facebook page, passing the word on to others, and being all-around good joes.

Truth is...the year has passed rapidly, and I'm looking forward, if Jesus hangs back, to several more.

Hilarious Truth

I recently saw the Jim Gaffigan comedy special, Mr. Universe, and nearly busted a gut laughing. And then, surprise-surprise, was taken aback by some Truth hiding in the midst of the silliness. It shows up right around the six minute mark of this excerpt.

Fair warning: Wouldn't you know it? The two or three PG-13 words used in the 77-minute-long film make their only appearances in this nine-minute clip. If you're easily offended, you may want to skip the actual playing of the video.

https://youtu.be/6YDTfEhChgw

Truth is...we've all got our own "McDonald's"; something we know it would be better not to indulge in but do anyway. So, instead of feeling superior because we don't have the other guy's issue, how about let's recognize that we're all clams in the same chowder and "be kind and compassionate to one another; forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave [us]." (Ephesians 4:32)

Look! It's Jesus!

"If you turn on any of my crew..."

The intense scene pictured above is from the 9th of only 14 episodes of the 2002-2003 television series, Firefly. The loveable scalawag, Captain Mal, has caught the man named Jayne in an act of treason...turning in a pair of fugitives from the evil Alliance that was part of the ship's crew. Jayne defends himself by saying, "It's not like I turned on YOU!"

The quick and angry response is, "You turn on any member of my crew, and you turn on me! You did it to me, Jayne! And that's a fact."

Sound slightly familiar to any Bible readers out there?

It's a reverse image of something Jesus said about feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, tending to the sick, visiting the lonely...

"If you've done it to the least of these brothers of mine, you've done it to me."

Kind of makes you want to think twice before avoiding eye contact with the Salvation Army bell-ringer, or hoarding all those perfectly good coats you'll never wear again, doesn't it? Kind of makes you wonder if the soup kitchen ought to be keeping kosher in order to not offend the line of Jewish carpenters outside its door.

"You did it to ME!"

Truth is...we maybe should be going beyond treating others as we would have them treat us, and instead, start treating others as we would want to treat Jesus.