16 December 1999
Another essay - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - The latest essay in English 12 is a rehash of the topic in the November ‘99 provincial exam. The topic was: “The important things in life endure over time.” Here’s my take on that....
“Another re-run?” - November 30, 1999
Over time, I think it’s safe to say, we grow old. Boys become men, girls turn into women and children become adults. In growing old, or to be politically correct, maturing; we see a lot of people taking better care of themselves. Wasn’t it Jane Fonda who started getting “mature” women into aerobics? Yoga seems to be the hip thing right now, so I would assume people are more concerned about ageing gracefully or ageing carefully. To me, it seems more and more people are investing care into their bodies, In doing so, it somehow ceases the ageing process, thus slows down the ravages of death from hitting you sooner.
I’m a news junkie. I actually enjoy watching the supperhour newscasts or the occasional news magazine. (If only to see what tie Dan Rather is wearing or how grumpy Andy Rooney is this week.) One thing I’ve noticed over the years, is that more and more time is devoted to covering health stories. The local VTV has a resident doctor on every night telling us the benefits of the occasional glass of red wine. BCTV, the venerable institution of news, resurrects the ageless Pamela Martin from her 5:00 PM anchoring gig to do a “Healthfile” on the top-rated News Hour.
I guess our entire culture has woken up and are actually paying attention to what we eat and what we do.
The Gershwin’s wrote a song years ago, “Our Love Is Here To Stay.” The “standard” as performed for what seems endlessly in Tony Bennett concerts or on public television, tells the tale of a couple’s love that will last forever. Like the health and well-being of North Americans, things like love and emotions of the sort, do last.
For example, on Dallas, one of my addictions on television; the Ewing’s and the Barnes’ could never get along. They stayed enemies from the series pilot all the way to the series finale and subsequent reunion movies. (Not to mention syndication.) But through the griping over oil patches and tankers, Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal) did fall in love with Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy). Even after he died and came back from the dead! Who said love had to be seriously real?
Perhaps the Gershwin’s were right, in the case of Bobby and Pam.
Jane Fonda made a hell of a lot of dough getting people in shape. Not to mention the Suzanne Somers’ or Richard Simmons’ who eventually joined the pack of infommercial gurus, selling everything from butt exercising contraptions or music videos with ever-so kitsch songs.
But they did wake up a generation of North Americans, who now at brunch avoid bacon and head straight for the salad bar. North Americans listened and now believe that healthy is the way to go, thus investing some importance into their own lives, so they’ll live longer.
Pamela Barnes never did go back to Dallas. (I last saw Victoria Principal hock some age defying cream on latenight TV.) But, Bobby still loves her, even if its only in re-runs. And if this health binge lasts, or if technology can do something; we will never die, only to be re-run like episodes of Dallas or old Jane Fonda movies.
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