Play Their Game

I remember having a bite to eat with a friend a couple months prior, and he expressed to me that I was "too nice", he said I wouldn't get anywhere in "this town", thinking the way I did. Back then, I was appalled and couldn't comprehend exactly what he was trying to explain to me. Sure I've heard of women sleeping with Producers and Directors to get ahead, and he told me apparently, you could sleep with the wives of Producers and Directors as well, and she'd put in a good word for you, if you "rocked her world". I couldn't see then and still don't see now, warping my moral beliefs to make progress on my journey; and the simple thought of all these shared partners within this small town, sounded rather disgusting!

Using sex as bribe/bate isn't the only way to get ahead in this town; according to the grapevine, people also enjoy stomping upon each other and being sly or nastily competitive. You think girls are the only ones who do it? That's already a given, women like to compete, no ifs, ands or buts; but in the Entertainment field as well as in 'the city of angels'; everybody is competition! I've bumped into more than enough cut-throats, conniving, and back-stabbing rats since I've been here. They smile to your face and pretend to be your friends, suck your energy dry or keep one step ahead of you. Sure, I come from a simple, quiet island where people for the most part are genuine and those that aren't, are the talk of the village! However, I've had the opportunity to travel far and wide and live in other countries and states within the US to know that a high concentration of seedy people resides here. That's right, they come from all over the world to live in this paradise land, and spread their malice and vindictiveness. I love living in LA, every morning I wake up with brilliant sunshine in January, I'm grateful, but within the Film world of Botox and phony stories of people saying one thing and meaning the other, it often-time tends to over shine the few good deeds or doers of the people living here.

Los Angeles is a place of wolves dressed in sheep clothing, and the saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", tis may be true, nevertheless because we live in an ordinary time, filled with ordinary people, doesn't mean we must forget our extraordinary qualities and just way of living. I rather be a sheep in wolf clothing, more of an edge is better, don't you think, nice fluffy tail? But no, I much rather be a sheep in lion's clothing! Rawr! For lions are ever so charming and strong, aren't they? Sexy mane…sideburns…hahah j/k J At the moment, everyone is going bonkers because of scientists saying that horoscopes have changed, because the world has changed, but don't you get it? You were born at a specific time and just because the world changes, doesn't mean you have to change too. You are still a lovely Leo, a vivacious Virgo, or an auspicious Aries! There is no need to completely change your ways and how you were raised because the world changes. Guess what? It will continue to change, keep turning, constantly evolving forever more; so what do you recommend, changing your horoscope and personality to suit the scientists observations or perhaps as my dear cousin suggested, tattoo "Was a" in inverted coma's over your astrological sign tattoo?

To live on earth, you must follow man's rules, you have to make a living, learn, eat, get shelter etcetera and with all these things, one needs money. In the Film/Entertainment world, there are even more rules or games to play by, and as the astute Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran reminds us:

"… You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison? Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brown, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written. You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, And all knowledge is vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when there is love; And when work with love you bind yourself, and to one another, and to God.

Therefore what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit. It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit. And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Often I have heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil. And he, who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet." But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass; and he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night."

[Excerpt from The Prophet – On Work]

So if your desire happens to be to work within one of the most difficult, manipulative, and competitive arena's in one of the most expensive states to live in within America, buckle up, put on your gloves and hold on tight, because you're going to get down and dirty. Sometimes to achieve great things you have to leave swimming in your wonderful, lucid pond filled with goldfish and try your best to stay afloat wearing a wet-suit within the tumultuous ocean where the BIG fish are; big fish/biting sharks! And still, I wouldn't trade it for the world…well, maybe just one world…j/k; I absolutely love the challenge of living among these wolves! But again, just because you play their game, doesn't mean you lose yourself in the process. Follow the rules, and try to stay steady on the ladder, there will be many that will clandestinely try to shake you off, but always remember in whatever you do, be fair, have humility and be that extraordinary person that in the end people can believe in. J

If you're doing it for the money and for fame, those are the wrong reasons and the Universe knows what's in your heart. It might bring you many things and temporary pleasures, but it will never bring you happiness, for even the richest man will die one day, and he cannot take one thing with him to the other side, but his good deeds. How many will he have; how many things could he say he did so with love as opposed to feigning affection and praise from others? How many things could he say he honestly enjoyed? How many things could he say brought joy to his heart, things that fulfilled him as would a true love's kiss?