@HomewithDean - Homily 4/10 - a podcast by KFI AM 640 (KFI-AM)

Let’s talk TV for a moment. There are a couple of new shows out there that have sparked some thoughts in me.

There’s a new series on HBO called “Julia” about the life of the legendary TV chef, Julia Child and her husband Paul. I’ll be honest, after Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci played these roles so perfectly just a few years ago, I wasn’t sure at first if we needed another Julia Child drama. Turns out the folks at HBO were right, we do, and it’s wonderful.

And there’s a new Ken Burns documentary series on the life of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin has always felt to me like the most human of the founding fathers. Of course they were all human but Franklin’s reputation has always included not only his brilliance and triumphs but also his vices and failures and for that reason he’s always felt more accessible to me. Anyway, my daughter-in-law Christy loves all things Ben Franklin, and I’ve watched every documentary Ken Burns has ever made, many more than once, so I had to dive in. Again, wonderful. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss either one.

But obviously I have more than TV on my mind. So what do I find so inspiring about both Benjamin Franklin and Julia Child?

I think it’s that I identify with them. Not in terms of their greatness or impact. I’m not so self-deluded to place myself in either of their leagues. My little life will never be worthy of the history books and that’s ok. But I identify with them in terms of living unconventional passion-filled lives by their own terms.

I am a deeply passionate person and I am most attracted to deeply passionate people. People who have a keen sense of both the depth of this life, and of its brevity, and therefore just can’t get enough of it. People who, despite their own limitations and failures and foibles and fears, find their way in the world and cannot stop sucking the marrow from this life. People who at first and second and third glance just don’t seem like the likely candidate but nevertheless there’s something burning in them. I mean, what exactly is a six foot tall woman with a strange voice and a face for radio doing on TV hosting a cooking show called the French Chef when no one has ever cooked on TV before and she is neither French nor a professional chef? I’ll tell you what she’s doing. She’s changing the world.

And as for Franklin, one of the historians on the program put it well. She said that for all his many inventions, Benjamin Franklin’s greatest invention was Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin never stopped evolving, never stopped improving himself, and I think that’s beautiful. My son, also a deeply passionate person, once asked me if there is a secret to finding a healthy work/life balance. I remember my answer because it turned out to be one of the few truly wise things I’ve ever said. So I’ll share it with you.

The secret to this life is remembering that you are the project. Not the career, not the bank account, not the house … you. At the end of your life hopefully they will say of you too that you were your greatest invention.

So remember, whatever your passions and whatever it is that you do … never lose yourself to it … because in the end YOU ARE it. YOU are the project. You are always the project. That’s why at the end of our time here together I always share some thought unrelated to home improvement but directly related to you-improvement. Because far more than wanting you to build a beautiful home, my truest hope is that today you’ll remember to build yourself a beautiful life.

Further episodes of KFI Featured Segments

Further podcasts by KFI AM 640 (KFI-AM)

Website of KFI AM 640 (KFI-AM)