I recently saw the wonderful movie "The Iron Lady."  We wanted to see it because we are big fans of Meryl Streep and wanted to see her Academy Award winning performance.  She was brilliant, as always, though as Lee says, we like her so much that we could watch her read the phone book and be riveted!

In the movie, Meryl plays Margaret Thatcher, and one line in the movie in particular really struck me.  As an older woman, looking back on her days as prime minister, she is greeted by a fan who thanks her for the great influence she had on younger women who followed her, and on women in general.   In the movie, Margaret says:

"It used to be about trying to Do Something, now it's about trying to Be Someone."

I was thunderstruck by this comment, as it encapsulates so much about our current culture that I find frustrating.  It used to be that you would ask a young person what they wanted to be "when they grew up" and they would say "doctor, fireman, astronaut, teacher…."…something they wanted to DO.  Now if you ask a young person this same question, they will likely say "I want to be famous" or "i want to be a Kardashian."  In other words, they want to be someone famous or important.

I always liked that in order to be famous or important, someone had to DO something, make some contribution to the world.  Even the so called "personalities" of the past had real talent or comedic skills.  Now someone is famous for nothing…appearing on a reality TV show and embarrassing themselves.  Or having a sex tape.  Or having money.

So like Ms. Thatcher, I lament this change, and continue to strive to be doing something that is worthwhile and helps the world in some way.  I encourage you to do the same.  Don't work toward simply being someone that people know about, but strive to have a REASON for their knowing about you…and a reason that you and your mother could both be proud of.