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To all the celebrities I’ve ever bothered…
“Humans were not built to withstand the weight of celebrity.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates
The first celebrity I ever met was John Paxson, the Chicago Bulls point guard who hit the championship-winning shot in the 1993 NBA Finals.
Later that same summer, he came to cheer up patients at the Chicago-area hospital where my parents worked. My folks excitedly brought me and my brother to meet him.
I remember a strange disconnect: There was the abstract, God-like image of this hero who I (and millions of others) watched on TV. And then here was this actual human being in my presence. Someone who had good days and bad days and sneezed and put on socks one at a time like the rest of us.
You know, a real human.
Fame is weird.
At first, it seems like everyone wants it. “Fame and fortune,” right? And yet like so many things, there’s always a catch.
Apparently, being rich and famous doesn’t solve all problems!
As DHH shares in an enlightening post: “Now that I’ve struck gold and have all the money a reasonable mortal could desire, I still occasionally day dream about riches. Except now it’s about losing it all.”
