BARE WALLS

I guess that this has happened before but I find many of the things of my era are disappearing. I thought of this last night after watching a special on NBC about Farrah Fawcett and her battle with cancer.
This was a very touching and moving program about a brave woman who refuses to give up. Probably because most of her life has been on TV or in papers and magazines (wanted or not) she decided to tape her struggles with the disease and the various treatments needed to help her survive. I became aware of the fact that society has put Ms. Fawcett on a pedestal then did all it could to knock her off. But at the end of the day she is human just like the rest of us. And when death comes knocking we are afraid.
We often look at these celebrities as being beyond human and perfect. We often take great pleasure when we find out that they are indeed just like us. Better job perhaps, better pay to be sure but at the end of the day their tanned bodies are as frail as ours. Their weaknesses are often our weaknesses. And this thrills us no end.
I mainly bring all this up because all the way back to the last century, 1976 to be exact, Ms. Fawcett released a poster of herself that caused the world to spin a little faster. For teenage boys like myself it was THE picture of the perfect woman. Or at least what we thought was the perfect woman. All teeth and hair with proof that even famous beautiful women have nipples. This poster hung on millions of walls around the world and for a brief moment in time it made us happy and feeling a little funny you know where.
Now fast forward to 2009 and you find that that woman no longer exist. That woman is human and due to cancer that woman is frail and very very weak. Our idea of female perfection is slowly fading and may well be gone very soon. When you take the poster down you find that what's left is a human. A human in pain. A human having to deal with a relentless monster that is very hard to kill. And a human much loved by family and friends.
If Ms. Fawcett loses this battle like so many before her it will for me bring to a close another part of my past. A past with 8-track players 40cent a gallon gasoline and posters hung in a young mans bedroom. Posters of day-glo sailing ships, a cartoon man that keeps on truckin' and a picture of the perfect women. They never existed but at least now I know they never existed. It's OK though because I find this makes the world a little more accessible to us all.
Good luck Farrah and never give up.