As celebrities go, some are good, others not so much. They are a reflection of what you find in society in general. My definition of a good soul is someone who has a high level of awareness of the world in general, and enough caring and compassion to want to make the world better. I would count in the category of celebrity good souls, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Leo DeCaprio, Charlize Theron, Betty White, Ryan Gosling, Elle DeGeneres, Bono, and Brad Pitt. There are others, but the latter names always come to mind first. If there is one among them all who has elevated himself above everyone else, in my mind that would be George Clooney.
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| George Clooney |
George Clooney has got the world by the tail. He's remarkably good looking. He's elegant. He's dapper and charismatic. He moves gracefully from one gorgeous woman in his life to another. He's got an amazing coterie of friends. He's a very talented actor, director, and writer. It could easily end there, but it doesn't. With all that he has going for him, George Clooney is also a deeply committed and compassionate champion for those in the human family who struggle for survival every day.
George Clooney lends his voice to many good causes, but he has chosen to give the greatest share of his activism as a voice for the long suffering, oppressed peoples of Darfur, in the South Sudan of Africa.
The Sudan is an arid nation in east Africa, directly south of Egypt. It is one of the poorest places on Earth. The northern part of the Sudan is Arab culturally, the southern part, called Darfur, is ethnically African.
The political power in the Sudan has always been held by the Sudanese Arabs in the north. They didn't bother much with the Africans that had always occupied the southern, Darfur region of the Sudan. That is until oil was discovered in Darfur. When outside interests started sniffing around for oil and found ii in Darfur, the Arabs running the country decided it was time for some ethnic cleansing. What ensued was not much different than many historical instances of ethnic cleansing, including the one perpetrated by the US government on indigenous, native American populations in the 19th century.
About ten years ago, the Sudanese political power structure started sending planes with bombs and armed military forces into the Darfur region to terrorize the people and drive them from their homeland. Since then, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the Darfur War by forces controlled by the Sudanese government. In fact, Sudanese President Omar-Al-Bashir has been indicated on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court.
Anyway, this is a piece about George Clooney. How does he fit into the conflict in Darfur? Turns out, he is an important player in this real life drama. For several years, George Clooney has been using his celebrity to draw attention to the atrocities done by the Sudanese government to its own people in Darfur. Part of this effort is channeled through Not on Our Watch, an organization Clooney co-founded with several other celebrities.
George Clooney has seen the war for himself. He's traveled to Darfur several times. He's gone to the White House on more than one occasion to ask for aide. He speaks about Darfur whenever he can. Where Darfur is concerned, Clooney not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.
Before I go on to his latest bit of assertive action for Darfur, I want to talk about how he inspires the masses with the movies he makes. I'm talking about films that wouldn't get made without him. Good Night, and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, The Ides of March, to name a few. Sure Clooney makes movies that are entirely about entertaining and selling tickets. He's a bankable, 'A' List movie star. He uses part of the leverage he gets from his iconic status to get movies made that are about things that matter. George Clooney is a very accomplished producer and director of quality films about things that matter. He's getting it done in an era when that kind of movie making is tantamount to swimming upstream against a very swift current. You have to really admire the guy for that.
Talk about a rich and very full life. George Clooney has got it in spades. It would be so easy for him to coast frivolously through life. Fortunately, he's about as far from Charlie Sheen as one could be.
Now, Clooney's latest gambit for Darfur. He recently began to do a series of French TV commercials for a coffee called Nespresso. He's using the money he makes from those commercials to buy satellite time to maintain a watch over the Sudanese government and its actions against the now autonomous region of the South Sudan (Darfur). Buying satellite time to keep the bad guys in line. That is radically cool.
George Clooney is an inspiration. I only wish he would consider politics at some point. Let's keep in mind that another actor became President. Ronald Reagan was not nearly as smart as George Clooney. Reagan was a personality more than a person of substance. It was charisma more than political savvy that got him elected to the highest office in the land. George Clooney has at least as much charisma as Reagan, probably more political savvy, and for sure a whole lot more compassion. I would love to see Clooney as President.
Whatever George Clooney chooses to do with the remainder of his time on Earth, I'm sure he will have a good time doing it, and I'm sure he will have a positive impact on millions of people in the process. George Clooney is what every gifted person should be, a wonderful example for the majority of people, who need inspiration before they are willing stand and be counted.
Here are link to an article on Clooney and Nespresso ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/george-clooney-nespresso-spy-sattelite_n_3681937.html#slide=more214630
Here is a link some of George Clooney's Nespresso commercials....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXru4Q7Lgxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIbwrwWDXfc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBp1e9zzBow
Here is a link to Not On Our Watch, a Clooney co-founded organization dedicated to highlighting ethnic conflicts, particularly in Africa... http://notonourwatchproject.org/
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