It all starts this afternoon when our group of students walked down the street to get some lunch. Our hotel (Renaissance Hollywood) is in the middle of Hollywood, in the middle of all that is shown to be glittery and glamorous. As we strolled down the sidewalk, taking pictures of famed buildings, I saw other tourists like our group. But I also saw something I wasn't expecting to see in Hollywood: homeless people. People waiting at a bus stop who appeared to not have seen a bed or a bath in days, weeks, months. And they were ignored. By the cars rushing by on the road. By the people around me. By me.
Traversing the popular Walk of Fame a while later, I was struck by many things. First of all was the idea that the stars embedded in the sidewalk were to honor the people whose names they bear. Each star now costs $30,000. And yet thousands, millions of people walk on those stars and on those names. They can't avoid it, they don't mean any disrespect by it....but these stars which are supposed to honors a person's level of fame are trampled on day-in and day-out. This made me think about the fleetingness of "fame," "popularity," and life in general.
On Hollywood Blvd, where most of the Walk is, we were surrounded by tourists who were taking in the sights and snapping photos of their favorite stars, just like my group was doing. But once again, there were people I was surprised to see: people digging through trash cans. A homeless man carrying all his belongings and walking with a scroungy dog on a leash. It reminded me of China. It reminded me of the "bad areas" of Dallas. But I wasn't in a third world country. I wasn't in what I would have thought of as a bad part of town. Come on, this is Hollywood! The home of movie stars and the hub of the entertainment industry. And yet I hear sirens of fire trucks and ambulances more frequently here (4-5 times today) than I ever have living down the street from a fire station. And yet there are people living on the streets who have nothing. Nothing.
Surrounded by this clash between my expectations of the glamor of Hollywood and its real life grittiness, I watched as tourists ignored the existence of the destitute people. I thought of the celebrities, living in their mansions not too far away. They had contributed to making this place what it is, and yet they apparently did nothing to help the people who call their Walk of Fame home. I was confronted by the difference between the star-studded Hollywood I had imagined and the sense of apprehension I experienced walking the streets. What if one of the homeless people tried to rob me?
What was I supposed to do about all this? We are trained to ignore homeless people. They could be dangerous and if you help them you are probably just enabling them to continue in their bad habits. What am I to do? When I go out tomorrow, I will be faced by the same dilemma and by the same people. Will I make the decision to go along with the cultural norm and choose to not see these fellow human beings? Will I instead take the challenge of interacting with them, sharing truth with them, and yes - loving them as Jesus would? I know what my inclination will be. I can only pray that God will grant me safety and wisdom to do as He would have me to do.
So those are my thoughts and feelings about Hollywood. Overall, I am not impressed. From my short experience of it, I am struck not by the grandeur of it, but by the hypocrisy of the people in it. I am not liking Hollywood (the city/atmosphere - I'm glad to be at the conference & visiting Gma Artie & Auntie Lynne!). I am eager to get back to Arkansas where I'm not faced with more than I can handle. I'm ready to go back to where I'm comfortable--to not have to see what I have seen tonight.
But can I really go back the same? This day in Hollywood has impacted me more deeply than I am able to properly communicate in this note. I don't know where it will take me. But I know I'll remember this night for a long time to come. And not because of how much fun I had in Hollywood, but rather because of what I saw by looking at my surroundings, not through a celebrity or tourists sunglasses, but with the eyes that see those whom society has made invisible to keep itself comfortable.
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