What about you? Care to confess?
If you would like to use this page a screensaver or wallpaper or something, you can download it here. Happy Wednesday, y’all. 
Let’s start by saying it really shouldn’t be that important. No celebrity couple should take up this much real estate in media coverage, especially with all the events in Syria and Afghanistan and North Korea right now. Those things matter.
But.
All we’re hearing about right now is Brangelina Brangelina Brangelina.
That, by nature of the fact, is what makes their engagement important.
This morning, a friend asked the question on Facebook: Do we really care?
I understand her question completely. This moment in our culture seems trivial and shallow, but the media won’t shut up about it: He spent a year designing this chicklet engagement ring. This is America’s version of a Royal Wedding–a State wedding–the most important wedding of the new decade.
My reply to her post: It’s important in the sense that Hollywood, celebrities, and the media have a handhold on creating culture. I know you’re being facetious, but I’m a closet-observer of their relationship. I’ve been intrigued by their intent not to get married until the LGBT community has equal marital rights in every state. That is a strong statement. And so is the fact that they’re now engaged, probably because their kids are asking questions and they are telling their kids that marriage is the most important human commitment. Whether we agree or not, Brad and Angelina have quite an influence on how marriage and family are perceived in our country.
I know all this media coverage seems like hype, but it’s not. For reasons of beauty, popularity, or whatever, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are more than Hollywood’s Royal Couple. They are national influencers. This can be seen in the fact that they don’t need to hold a press conference to issue a statement on their view of marriage.
All they have to do is go out in public with a rather large engagement ring.
This is why I care. I care because America cares.
But what about you? Do you care?
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein
I couldn’t tell if his fast breathing was stress-induced or simply the quick-talking style of someone who is radically passionate about their message. Either way, I had to listen hard to soak up the flood of words. JJ Abrams, creator of LOST and Super 8 and many other fantastic works of film and TV, inspired me with his words about “the mystery box.”
About six minutes in, I grabbed my pen and journal: “Maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge.”
Wow, J. J. I’m with you on this one.
I was one of those LOST fanatics who didn’t find the vague ending and loose strings confusing. Nope. I was okay with how things turned out and I accepted that the writers weren’t going to explain everything.
In his TED talk, J. J. described the mystery box concept as “being what you think you’re getting and what you’re really getting.” It’s the conflict of anticipation and reality. The conflict of what we think should happen and what actually happens—the classic twists and turns of a good storyline.
Our lives are mystery boxes filled with jarring twists, frustrating roadblocks, surprise endings, and unanswered questions.
Ok J. J. I also hear you saying that great stories are made of great “mystery box” moments.
And that’s what has sucked me into all of Abrams’ plot lines. I can’t resist the “mystery” of wondering what’s going to happen next. It engages and entertains me and I don’t complain about the things I don’t understand. You’d think I would have similar patience with the mystery box that is my own life.
