What are the Oscars really about?

They say that 1 BILLION people watched the Academy of Motion Picture Awards show this year. WOW! That is 1/6 of the people on this earth. OK, I admit, I was one of them for a period of time.

So what are these awards really about?

• Is it about recognizing people for their achievement in the motion picture industry?
• Is it focused on the lives of the nominees and the winners?
• Is it about freedom of expression?
• Is it about political and/or moral rights and wrongs?

If it is about any of the above, you would never know it by the post-coverage of the event on the US newscasts. Without fail every report that I saw on the major TV networks talked about the clothes that the attendees were wearing. THE CLOTHES!

What does that say about our values as a society? If we look at my previous blog and review the 3 classes of value, we will see that most of the evening focused on the EXTRINSIC values. Yet, the most moving and meaningful moments of the evening were the moments that touched our hearts. Two stand out in my mind...

1. Jennifer Hudson
2. Forest Whitaker

These 2 wonderful, gifted human beings focused on INTRINSIC values. These are the values that move us... they touch our hearts, our minds, our souls.

Jennifer's acceptance speech was so... REAL! She was truly thankful to her God for allowing her to be in this place in her life. She was overwhelmed by the response to her 'gift'. Amazing!

Now, Forest Whitaker also had an acceptance speech that focused on intrinsic values. He said in his speech...

"Because when I first started acting, it was because of my desire to connect to everyone. To that thing inside each of us. That light that I believe exists in all of us. Because acting for me is about believing in that connection and it's a connection so strong, it's a connection so deep, that we feel it. And through our combined belief, we can create a new reality."

These are the things that you should try to focus on today. Focus on making that connection to other people in this world (regardless of what clothes they are wearing). People is where the true value, the true uniqueness, the irreplaceableness of our universe exists.

If you make that connection with another human being, setting aside your needs, desires, and fears - without the need to fix, feel ashamed, fear, or pretend - you will feel as though you made a difference.

Use that light that exists within you to connect to another person today!