I’ve never had much use for celebrity and remain, for the most part, disinterested in most anyone who has become “somebody” or found their way onto the big stage.
There are a select few who seem to be different, however… the real deal, if you will.
In my world, Anthony Bourdain was one of the few.
“I have the best job in the world.” This from someone who, by choice, went from the upscale world of fine dining in New York to exploring street food, to learning about what people were cooking across the world making the best of what they have.
My reaction to the news on Friday morning…
As a very good friend shared,
If you’re anything like me, from time to time something happens that hits you in a way you weren’t expecting. What you feel at that moment is a sense of discomfort inside that you can’t fully express or identify the source of, but it’s real to you…”
Like his, my reaction felt like a “combination gut punch, reality check.” As if something is not right in the world at this moment.
We Americans, and probably most humans have a tendency toward hero worship. The last time I allowed myself to claim a bona fide hero was likely as far back as high school.
Why, who doesn’t admire world-class athletes… movie stars… rock stars? Most of us do. Until they disappoint. All heroes disappoint at one time or another, it’s part of being human… hero or mere mortal. And heroes are also humans.
Anyone who is into the superhero kind knows that all superheroes must-be-flawed. It’s a requirement. Why? It gives them believability.
It makes it possible for them to maybe, just maybe… be real.
Over and over, the word real has appeared in the multitude of tributes.
I’ve always felt that Anthony Bourdain had an “Untucked” thing going on…
For me, he was my answer to “If you could choose anyone, who would you like to have dinner with?”
Anthony Bourdain was one who I could identify with. I absolutely loved his masterful storytelling ability. I would honestly try and channel it every time I watched Parts Unknown.
He truly understood the human condition. If people can sit down together and share a meal and a beer in friendship and understanding… well, that’s pretty much all that matters.
Here’s one of the big lessons we all should strive to understand. It’s from a New York Times video…
My travels have shown me as I move from place to place, what I thought yesterday is in fact completely wrong, again and again.”
Another, from a collection of quotes…
I am certain of nothing.”— Anthony Bourdain
That is enlightenment. The understanding that what we think we know, what we think we’re sure of. Is in fact, wrong. A challenging possibility for most of us to consider.
But possibly much easier to accept… when discovered over a beer, with new friends, who are nothing at all like you or me.
As a traveler, you’ve got to love this guy. The quote below has been referenced more than any…
If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch. Move.”— Anthony Bourdain
I love to travel. I love to eat good food. I try to get beyond the obvious places. Go where the locals go. Eat where the locals eat. But for most of us, there are limits. There is reason.
Not for Anthony Bourdain. He would go to places I dare say most of us would not go. He would eat food most of us would choose not to eat. At the same time, all right there in our family rooms for us to enjoy. Vicariously, of course.
When it comes to the things he’s willing to eat, he gives this explanation…
Hawkers and street food people are not in the business of poisoning their neighbors. That’s a bad business model.”
In the places he visited, most of us, I believe would choose a big American 4×4 to get around. On Parts Unknown, his most sophisticated form of transportation was most often a scooter, on rare occasions a motorcycle.
The real people of certain countries, some would have you believe, are bad places populated with only bad people. It turns out, they are very different that most of us imagined. Very different from their government leaders and dictators.
He taught us there is no need to fear other people.
Most of us fear what we do not know. What we do not understand.
He showed us how to sit down over a meal, have a beer, and get to know anyone on a very human level.
As a champion of the regular folk, the people on the street, that’s what he brought to our family rooms… the real people.
I didn’t go looking for it, but I keep a pulse on various social media platforms, so I prepared myself for the requisite negativity, hatefulness, and knee-jerk reactivity that taints so much of the Interwebs. But I saw none, and I find that remarkable.
Anthony Bourdain was as real and authentic as they get, or he was hands down the best thespian who ever walked the planet. You pick. I think it was the former.
Over and over again, tributes have referred to him as one of the great storytellers of our time.
I believe that was what drew me in most.
It also may come as no surprise to those who know me well, I held his sarcasm in the highest regard. His prose was world class.
Anthony Bourdain readily disclaims that he is a journalist, but yet is considered by many to a better correspondent than those who claim either title. Of course, it comes with a point of view. An admitted point of view, which makes his craft all the more infectious. All the more convincing.
I mourn the loss of a guy on TV because his work, his craft… truly changed me. I say that with the most respectful regard and seriousness.
His narrative was intoxicating.
Anthony Bourdain changed the way I see the world. More important, he changed the way I am able to see people who are vastly different from me… and not fear the difference.
I feel we have lost one of the good guys… I hope and pray his world vision lives on.
Why did the untimely death of this guy impact so many of us in such a big way?
It wasn’t so much the food… that played its part. Or even the travel, which was all very fascinating to take in as we get a glimpse of… well, parts unknown.
He made wanderlust a fine art. An art of “enlightenment and understanding and openness and appreciation of other cultures.” (His words).
I think Joy Reid of AM Joy on MSNBC said it best…
He was the friend inside our head.”
I think it was that simple.
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