Bear with me. This one is going to be rambly and possibly incoherent but I’m going to do my best to tie it together.

I read an article recently by an author I have had an opportunity to interview before. This article (linked here) is about people idolizing celebrities. The author states it differently, however that’s what it amounts to. Idolizing, much like western religions have taught against for many hundreds of years in fact. I have written in the past about my experiences with relatively famous or infamous people and how I felt about them versus how I felt about their work or how they have portrayed themselves in their public facing persona. Your protest may vary. This is why I wanted to try to pull these thoughts together. This isn’t going away. People are always looking for the next wondrous thing that will give them good feelings and happy memories. In reference to the title of this post, Fleeting Magic, the things that we tend to find the most valuable or particularly special are things that do not necessarily last.

I have worked behind the scenes for some conventions that brought in celebrity guests. My experience with those particular people actually matches relatively closely to what is presented in Scalzi’s article. The people I wanted to meet the most, frequently turned out to be the worst people to meet. The people I met without expectations from me generally became my favorites.  Working behind the scenes and being part of the creation of an event rather than a consumer of an event has helped me shape this point of view. Creative people are putting on public faces. I’ve seen a pro at work and she was amazing (cold read of a work that she just crushed) and when she walked off stage, out of sight from the crowd she said, “that was a really hard room to work”. She was right, but the people she performed for had a very different view of the entire experience. For them, the magic was there.

I have often daydreamed about being successful. I think most people do. I do not daydream about being famous. I don’t want to be famous. These days that’s far too invasive. There will, without question, be people who appear from my distant past with stories of how rotten I was at the time. They’re probably not wrong. Everyone is the villain of somebody else’s story. I don’t want or need to relive any of those times. I have grown and changed. I’m working on my version of success and being a better person every day. The real question, or catch, here is can you be successful (particularly financially) and not become famous?

How you define success is the most important part of that question. What is success to you?  I guarantee success from your point of view does not match success from my point of view. One of my written goals when I started creating (both artwork and writing)  was to become successful enough to be an invited guest at a science fiction convention and not have to pay to go. I have, in fact, achieved that first goal. It’s not my only goal, but it is the first one I have achieved. It is something that makes me happy. It is not something that makes me famous nor does it make me any money. I get to continue to do some of the things that I genuinely enjoy and visit and chat with other creators in the genres I love.

Where is the fleeting portion of this?  That’s easy to pinpoint. My behind the scenes convention work is done. Those conventions, no matter how  wonderful they were, no matter how amazing my team was, are done. The company is defunct and those teams disbanded. There are wonderful memories from that time, but they are just that, memories. They were snippets in time that gave me a view into event creation and minor celebrities behind the scenes. I suspect that my interactions with celebrities, both good and bad, are what have given me my disdain for putting them up on a pedestal. As is stated in the article, they are just people. Those people are doing their job and trying to get paid. That’s it, nothing more. Sometimes those people are wonderful, sometimes those people are assholes. Pretty much how people always are. Even your favorite people have bad days.

Should a bad day count against the person? Maybe not. Will it count against them in YOUR book? You bet it will. It will color all of your thoughts and interactions with them going forward. Will they notice? Unless you see them every day, no they will not. They probably won’t remember. If an egregious transgression comes to light, some heinous act that you will not stand for, should that destroy the joy that you once had from their creative work? Maybe not,  but it will certainly color your point of view from that day forward. It will make you not want to give them money. It will make you question what went into that thing you love and have you wondering if that thing that has been brought to light was part of the process of making the creation you’ve enjoyed so much.

I wonder if media, including social media and sports, have become the modern equivalent of religion. People are searching for something or someone to believe in. They want an example to look to. This makes failings and shortcomings significantly more devastating when they are discovered. Thing is, this happens. People are people and they will screw up. It’s fair to be disappointed and it is also fair to withhold further support from somebody whose actions have been proven to be in opposition to what you support. Don’t give money or fame to those who stand against what you believe in. Simple, right? Just how well do you know them? How well do you know the structure of your religion? Where are the lessons and will they survive being brought into the light of public scrutiny?

I think, someday, we will sort this out and come to some balance. Perhaps. Right now I believe the best thing that people can do is practice moderation with any form of media. As Mr. Scalzi suggests, do not put creators on a pedestal. Do not idolize athletes. Change your priority. Enjoy art or sport in all its forms, but not at the expense of what is real and around you every day. Most people don’t get to interact with the famous or successful every day except through the media. Take some time and get away from your screens. Go outside and meet your neighbors. Go volunteer locally, do something good, treat people around you with kindness whenever you can.  It’s not a big ask and that’s what I think will make it successful. Handle the small things and enjoy the things around you. When you have the opportunity to participate in something that could be magic, take that opportunity. Create that magic. Be part of that team. If it doesn’t last, just know that being part of that magic has given wonderful memories to others that they will carry with them. No matter how fleeting your magical creation is, enjoy it and cherish it.