Seems to me that this business, for actors anyway, is not so much about whether or not you do good work. It's about whether or not you get the chance to do good work.
Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much. They didn't begrudge anyone else's success or care that others had much more than they did... In fact, they admired it.
Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured.
