By Maggie Blackwell
For the Salisbury Post
A couple of weeks ago, a speaker of some celebrity spoke at Catawba College.
I do admit I have conflicting feelings about celebrity.
I remember one night years ago, when I lived in Virginia, there was a downtown festival. I was outside a restaurant when my friend ran out to see me. “Guess what! Larry Czonka is inside! Would you like to come in and sit on his lap?” Apparently, inside the restaurant legions of giggling females were lining up to sit on the man’s lap.
Confused, I turned to look at my friend. “Why would I sit on his lap?” I was truly bewildered.
“Well, he won the Super Bowl 12 years ago!”
In retrospect, I realize my friend was confused at my own confusion.
“Er, has he done anything lately?”
My friend clearly thought I was being mean. I truly just didn’t get it.
Call me a spoilsport. I just have weird feelings about celebrity.
The speaker at Catawba two weeks ago was Lester Brown. You can visit his bio at www.earthpolicy.org/about/ lester_bio.htm. It is amazing! Here it is in a nutshell. He graduated from Rutgers the year before I was born (and I am no spring chicken.) He has an MS from Maryland and an MPA from Harvard. He has authored 25 books and is published in 40 languages. He is a seminal environmentalist; he was working for the planet before most Americans realized there was a concern. He has been awarded 24 honorary doctorates. He founded and serves as president and senior researcher for the Earth Policy Institute, and serves on virtually every board of import in the field. There is much, much more, but this gives you the idea.
Last month when I heard he was coming, I rushed to make reservations to attend. I anticipated the event for a month, but when the day came, I considered not attending, as I had a wicked cold.
Because the next day was a school holiday, our child was sleeping over with a friend. My husband was working that night. It was actually the perfect evening for some “Me Time.” Still, I was thinking about staying home with a quilt and a movie.
Early in the afternoon my husband asked if I planned to go to the presentation. I really just did not feel too great.
“I don’t know,” I demurred. “This cold really has me down.”
“Listen,” hubby said. “Colds come and go. You admire Lester Brown, and he is only here once. Promise me you will go.”
I went.
At the college, Lester came onto the stage just as humble as could be. Pressed shirt, signature bow tie, sport coat, khakis and running shoes. At 75 or so, he is trim and fit.
You know how, when you watch a Shakespeare play, or speak in your second language, you stay a line or two behind in the dialogue as your brain translates the lines into what you can understand? That’s how I listened to Lester Brown.
He reeled numbers off the top of his head with facility. He spoke with passion about opportunities for wind-generated electricity. A nationwide power grid. The cost of wind vs. nuclear. The opportunity to drive hybrid cars with an additional battery and plug-in pack, powered with electricity from wind. No emissions ó not even from the power generation! 142 mpg vs. the normal 48. China, Indonesia, Ireland, Greenland, glacial shelves, sea level. The concepts were wide-ranging as well as eye-opening.
I chose to skip the reception and book-signing afterward. I did not want to sniffle and cough on folks, and I really just wanted to put on my jammies and have a cup of tea. So I headed home.
My head was reeling as I left. I was so energized, so inspired, so motivated, that I actually had a hard time settling down for bed.
I find Salisbury to be a conservative town. Yet the auditorium was packed ó mostly with adults from town and some college students. The man got two standing ovations: one when he completed his remarks and one when the question-and-answer session was over. He humbly waved us off.
The man has devoted his adult life to making our planet a better place. He looks into the future to see what can be, and works to make it happen. He challenges us to do our parts. He meets with heads of state to consult on resolutions to perplexing problems. He could have retired years ago. But his work isn’t done. So, he keeps working.
Now, that’s celebrity.
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Maggie Blackwell lives in Salisbury.