Take a second, or 30 seconds and check out the commercial below. To the average viewer, Michael and his brothers looked pretty happy. Of course, that is their job, to look happy and sell cereal.  But we’ve since been told that if they made mistakes, their father would beat them with a belt. Huh?

It seems like an odd mix of contradictions. We want to believe our politicians, performers, and athletes are exceptional in all phases of life. So they hire image makers to give us what we want. And when that isn’t enough, they lie, use illicit drugs, or mortgage themselves to still appear relevant. It seems to work well, until they are caught in a lie. We then judge and criticize them for not being who we wanted them to be or whom they promised to be.  

This point was made clear to me when my son and I saw a  ”Tommy Boy” Cd soundtrack. We laughed at Chris Farley, and then my son commented, “he is so funny,…is he alive, Dad?” And then before I could answer, he said ,”oh yeah he died of drugs.”