Edna May Is Dead

Edna May?

There was a time when people knew, whom many then considered to be, the globally-recognized No. 1 A-list entertainer celebrity in the world, Edna May Pettie. She was born in Syracuse, New York, 1878, and died in Switzerland in 1948.

If anyone now reading these words knows her name, that would be truly amazing.

The same can be said for many so-called stars and celebrities of the past; e.g. :  Thomas Pope; Thespis; Eleonora Duse; Richard Perkins; Helena Modjeska;  Helladia; Fanny Kemble; Ellen Tree;  Henry Irving; Charlotte Cushman; Thomas Percival; Metrobius; and Quintilla. Today, not only are these folks no longer household names, they are virtually unknown on this earth.

For many reasons, there will be a similar story about every so-called “star,” headliner, “icon,” “artist of the year,” and top celebrity alive today. No one will think of them. No one will know their names. No one will care that they were once “somebody.”

Their earthly awards from their other celebrity friends who applauded as they were accepted – oscars, globes, emmys, palm d’ors, tonies, grammies – will be doorstops, sold on eBay, or stored away in a dark closet and utterly forgotten. The same for nobels and pulitzers-each of these name begun with a lower case letter on purpose.

No one will know, and almost no one knows now, that Gale Sondergaard won the Academy Award for best supporting actress in 1937. Few even know her name. Who won the hundred meter dash at the 1908 Olympics?  Who was Arfinn Bergmann?  Who was the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1906?.

The same is true for soccer World Cup winners, Super Bowl football champions, and Macarthur Genius Awards. Years from now a janitor, emptying the garbage, might read an inscription on one of these plaques, trophies, or statuettes and say, “Never heard of her,” or “no clue who this guy was.”

Greatest of All Time, Living Legend

Do an internet search for the “greatest of all time” and you will get about 22 pages of results. This or that person, this or that group of persons or a committee decides who, for a certain category, or area of human endeavor or sports (so far not yet for so-called “synchronized swimming”), is called by some people the “greatest,” and then other folks or groups argue with them. The majority of these “greatest” people are dead. Many of those who are dead are now generally forgotten, or soon will be. They are no longer “in time” and the standards and criteria for “great” where they are are not those applied now to make such determinations. And where they are there is no discussion or argument about who is “great.”

The declarers of who is the “greatest of all time” [g.o.a.t.] also often confer the oxymoronic title “living legend,” or the adjective “iconic,” on people who are still with us. Do another internet search of “living legend” and so many of them who were accorded this quasi-mythical status, by folks alive now or alive at some point, who have since died are utterly unknown. And many, many of them still alive are unknown to the general population. It is a fact: every so-called “living legend,” every star, every here-and-now human ”icon,”  will die. And in future will they no longer be known, let alone be thought of as legendary or iconic.

Ozymandias

Ramesses II, Pharoah of Egypt [1279–1213 B.C.] lived for about 44 years on this earth. He was considered to be, with a Pharaoh named Thutmose III, one of the most renowned and the most powerful pharaohs during the most powerful age of ancient Egypt [“power” being earthly power]. But for a 19th century poem, hardly anyone today would know he ever existed.

That poem, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1817-1818 A.D., is entitled “Ozymandias,” which is a Greek translation of “Ramesses.” The poem presents a poignant and insightful comment on earthly stardom, legend status, and celebrity.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

No thing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Ramesses was more than a star.  He demanded to be called great. He thought by what he had the earthly power to do he could insure that you and I would know about him. He is not a Pharoah now. Anyone who has not studied 19th century English poetry does not know he ever walked the earth.

 So Does Any Award Matter? Can One Be the GOAT?

I receive glory not from men. . . . How can you believe, who receive glory one from another: and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek? (John 5: 41,44).

Jesus, again and again, has told us about real stardom, real glory, real “legend” status.

If the world hates you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  (John 15:18-19).

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us about the earthly status of John the Baptist and compares that to the heavenly celebrity of all who enjoy His kingdom:

Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11).

What Jesus said can be [truly] paraphrased by inserting for the name of any top entertainer, celebrity, sports figure, champion, award winner, influencer, star, dictator, office holder, aristocrat, icon or legend of today:

The least person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than _________.

St. Paul makes a point about how he spreads the gospel news – not as a skilled orator would, not as a “star” among men, not so as to appeal to the “sensual” man, but as a humble messenger. He did not seek and did not want earthly star power to detract from the divine message.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ.  For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in shewing of the Spirit and power;  That your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.   . . .  Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.  But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man.  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.  (1 Corinthians 2:1 et seq.).

There would, purposefully, be no performance by Paul that would win him a trophy, an oscar, a grammy, an emmy, or a tony.

There is one, one of the lowest of the low, who lived here, who never ruled anything and who only achieved “living legend” status for a few hours on this earth. He was a criminal, a thief. He died in agony, but today he is great because Jesus told him so, told him that he (now known as Saint Dismas) would be with Him in paradise. Unlike the trunkless legs of Rameses, this person, one of the “greats” outside time, is now shown, and has been for millennia, on images of Calvary the day Jesus died. No star alive today will have such celebrity.

Edna May Is Not Dead

Edna May was conceived around New Year’s Day in 1878, and she died on New Year’s Day in 1948. From that moment in 1878 until today Edna May is alive. She left the world of glamorous celebrity at the height of her earthly fame. Shortly before her farewell appearance in 1907,  one was hard pressed to find a flower in any flower shop around the theatre district in London – they had all been purchased to send to the theater where she would give her last performance.

She did, however, infrequently return to perform in various productions, typically giving all the proceeds to charity. She became wealthy through marriage and spent the rest of her life involved in many charitable activities. She died relatively unknown on this earth.

St. John Marie Vianney knew that God’s goal for each person was not to be praised and held in high esteem by people here, but was to end up set apart, to end up holy, to end up in heaven:

A Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit has no difficulty in leaving the goods of this world, to run after those of Heaven; he knows the difference between them. The eyes of the world see no further than this life, as mine see no further than this wall when the church door is shut. The eyes of the Christian see deep into eternity. (“On The Holy Spirit”).

God bless Edna May and God bless us, everyone