It’s Oscar night tonight, and in anticipation we watched Michael Clayton for the first time last night. We’ll be rooting for George Clooney and his film tonight. In large part because it’s the only one of the “majors” we’ve seen so far. So our admitted bias is just that—bias. And likely a lot of Oscar watchers—and Oscar voters—are the same. We could make all kinds of comparisons to the larger political season and how people make their decisions about candidates.
But no prognosticating here today—about politics or movies and their makers—there are a bazillion other places on the web where you can find that. And we’ll get back to that soon enough.
Instead, consider Chuck Feeney.
Amid all the Oscar coverage on CBS Sunday Morning earlier, there was a profile of Chuck Feeney, he of the airport Duty Free Shops around the world, once named by Forbes as the 22nd richest person in the world. Except he wasn’t.
By the time Forbes wrote his profile, Feeney had already given away most of his money. To the tune of over a billion dollars. By the time Atlantic Philanthropies disburses the last of the money in 2020, they will have given away over eight billion dollars.
And that money is given anonymously. “What’s important is the new hospital, not the name on it.” Feeney’s philosophy extended to this morning’s interview, when his obvious reluctance for publicity was palpable.
A noble man, award and acclaim worthy, yet he expects, demands, wants none. Oh, he didn’t give it all away, he kept about five million, and thru his daughter you can see the quiet pride in his legacy.
And legacies do count. Whether they’re on the silver screen or in the harsh realities of life that so many of this year’s Oscar nominees portray. We live in bloody and fearmongering times and the movies show that. And so do words. “What’s important is the new hospital…”
Or, here’s money for Katrina relief…buy my son’s software with it.
Just words. And a legacy.
Well, you didn’t think we’d leave politics out of this entirely, did you?
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