There Are No Heroes

Liv Ullman

I saw a documentary yesterday in which the main character talks about being a proud member of Gen X. He proceeds to talk about things that he thinks are particularly Gen X— I forget now what they were. Frankly, they were attributes that I feel I can identintify with, and I was not born in the time bracket that is typically reserved for Gen X.

Why are we doing this? It’s hard enough to connect with others, so why do we set up artificial boundaries, create sweeping gerenalized descriptions of large groups of people that somehow differentiate us because we were born in randomly selected years? I don’t think that helps us all get along.

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Another movie I saw over the weekend was a documentary about the life and work of actor/director Liv Ullman (Liv Ullman: A Road Less Traveled). I loved her work growing up, I felt I could identify with her—turns out I am not alone. Her movies, activism and her humanitarian work is all about connecting with people. In the Q and A after the film, she said something very interesting. The questioner told Ms. Ulman that she was her hero, and did Ms. Ulman have any heros? Ulman was gracious but said, “There are no heroes. There is no ‘the other.’” We are all equal, is what I think she was saying.

Her comments on being an independant, creative woman in a business that is male-dominated was enlightening. She seemed to navigate it with grace and power. I need to go read her books—I think I read one when it came out, so I want to find the other one.

Happy Monday, and stay connected with each other.