A few weeks ago, I attended to a book fair, and met an author friend whose books sold extremely well during last a couple of years. Becoming a successful writer with bestselling books was his greatest dream, and I’m happy to see he made his dream come true. And I always liked him for his modest attitude. I hadn’t seen him for a few years, but talked to him on the phone every now and then, and he was always kind to me, like he was to everyone around him. When his second book was launched three or four years ago, we had met in another book fair, and he was all too kind to his readers, which made me like him more.
However, this time he left a different impression on me.
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Welcome to the hearth, Selim - I'm honoured to have you join us there, and I hope you enjoy your stay and find something of interest there :)
ReplyDeleteRegarding your article; it's a shame your friend allowed himself to become that way. It seems all too easy for those who struggle to get to a place of success within the media circle to suddenly 'forget' where they came from. Similar things happen to these so-called 'celebrities' now on reality tv. They hunger for the attention, the glitz, glamour and fame (not to mention the money) and once there they bemoan the fact their private lives are being followed by everyone, and start complaining.
Sometimes that old saying of, 'be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it', rings so true, but like a wish from a genie (or a jinni) it can become a twisted parody of what that person so desperately wanted to begin with and they end up unhappy.
Possibly your friend is also very insecure?
Kind regards
Mark K
I agree with all what you said above, Mark. Trust me, since my childhood, I had every right to be arrogant, too. Just look at some of the achievements I made, which I share here on my blog. When I was in front of a microphone at our national radio and television channel, I was just eight years old. But the thing is that one must tell the difference what they can do and what makes them the person they are now. The real strength comes from within, not from outside. And I think this kind of people are afraid to lose the illusion that they're someone.
DeleteThat's a real shame. I think you're right about the defence mechanism thing, but people in that kind of position should remember that, no matter how talented they might be, it's their fans who pay their wages.
ReplyDeleteGreat post though! :-)
YES, Ermie. And thanks. I had another friend who was an actor on a TV series, and a rock musician. Fame came suddenly for him, and I warned him about its traps. After a while, he began to cut me out, whereas we were close friends before. He wouldn't answer or return my calls, wouldn't respond my text messages or e-mails. I thought he became arrogant with his breakthrough. However, the real picture came later on, after the series ended. People wouldn't know him with his real name, but with the name of his role in the series. And after a while, he was forgotten, and he was in depression. I tried to help him, because I knew something like this would happen, but pity, he was already so far from me. In the end, he didn't lose his fame - and probably his money - but also his soul, I'm afraid.
DeleteThis is such a great post. I remember finally meeting an author I loved as well as a singer I was so crazy about - in fact, the singer had written about meeting famous people when she was younger and how it was always so disappointing when they were arrogant and guess how it was to meet the both of them? They had no time, (which is really understandable, I guess, but still...) and made me feel like I was really annoying them by talking to them. It's sort of sad and makes me wonder at which number of fans do they cross the border from being happy with their sucess and appreciating those who support them, to just being rude and arrogant!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post very much, I'm following you now :) Good luck for the rest of the challenge, I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Nikki – inspire nordic
Thanks for your feedback, Nikki. I completely agree with what you emphasized, and that's why I strongly criticize people who forget where they come from. You have a subject I'm really interested in, too. One of my aunts live in Finland, and Scandinavia (all four countries) is a place I want to visit someday. I'm following you, too, sis.
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