I'd Love To Change The World

This week's issue of Time has a list of the "100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world." The list contains some of the usual suspects, like President Bush, Pope Benedict, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bill and Melinda Gates. (By the way, have you ever heard anyone refer to Melinda Gates as her own person and not just as part of the monolithic "Billandmelindagates"?) Love them or hate them, a number of the people on the list make a difference in the world.


Some of the people on the list though left me wondering. Take super model Tyra Banks, for example. There is no doubt that the woman is beautiful. She may also be both very nice and extremely professional, as fellow super model Heidi Klum writes in the essay that each of the list members gets. But does Tyra Banks really change the world in any way? If she were to die tomorrow, would the world outside her immediate circle of friends and associates really be that different?


The same goes for Reese Witherspoon, who is also on the list. Even before she won her recent Academy Award for "Walk The Line", the biography of the great Johnny Cash, I usually enjoyed her movies. However, I don't really see how she changes the world. If Reese Witherspoon were to have never existed, I just don't see how different the world would be.

Please don't accuse me of sexism just because the two examples I chose are female. I feel this way about actors and singers in general. There certainly are exceptions. I may not like all of George Clooney's politics, but he provokes discussion. I don't always agree with Bono's ideas about solving the world's woes, but he at least investigates the issues first hand and thoughtfully analyzes the relevant data and information. On the flip side, Charlie Sheen should be publicly analyzing and opining on nothing other than what inspired his masterful portrayal of Ricky Vaughn.