Miscellaneous Mondays: Meet Your Idol

Celebrities and Dictators

I recently attended an author event at the local library. The author, Terry Brooks, discussed his latest novels and how he became a writer. Without using the phrase, he talked about "the good old days." I rather enjoyed his firsthand account of his early encounters with writing/publishing. I have read about 10 pages of his 35 novels. I personally met him and he wrote an encouraging note in my copy of the Sword of Shannara (which I am in the process of reading). I liked meeting a noted author, however I would not sell soul and self to shake his hand. 

Many people, when asked who are they dying to meet, answer with a big-name celebrity or a dictator with whom they would like to have a word or two. My response is, eh whatever. I'm not a fanatic but I wouldn't mind a personal recounting of their life, how they went from no-name to big-deal. But then I figure, that's what documentaries and memoirs are for! 

To me it's the experience and the humanization of a celebrity rather than the bragging rights enabled that I like about meeting an idol/famous person.