Noblesse oblige – the duty to do right.
Melissa Denton
The term noblesse oblige brings to mind the wonderful middle ages history class I had in college. We learned about how persons born into the nobility were trained from an early age that they were expected to behave in accordance with their status in life. With the blessings of being wealthy and powerful came the responsibility to be just and generous, to give back and care for those who have fewer blessings.
I started thinking about this concept again because I recently went to a mainstream movie where the major movie stars glorified the smoking of marijuana. Perhaps it makes me sound like a prude and it probably makes me sound weird, but I never tried the stuff. It is illegal, it stinks and it is bad for your body. I also dislike the notion of altering my perception. Maybe this bizarre status of mine is why it struck me so forcefully how very irresponsible it was for major movie stars to portray an episode of smoking pot as totally delightful and without any negative consequences. Yes, these middle aged folk clearly indicated that they did not smoke pot when they had little children and it was clear that they knew it was illegal. Yet, the delight with which they indulged and the line “Having fun is not overrated” glorified pot with no reservations. If I were more impressionable, I might have been persuaded that smoking marijuana is well worth doing.
This bothers me quite a bit. I think that the individuals involved in making that movie were wrong to do this. Back in the day, movie stars were used to promote cigarette the glamor of smoking with great success. Now they are allowing themselves to be used to promote an illegal type of smoking that is also very harmful to one’s health. That isn’t right.
Perhaps the movie stars and the producers/director/promoters will all say “we have artistic license” just as a few privileged and blessed athletic stars have said that they don’t believe that they have any responsibility to behave with decorum. Most of us are not born with silver spoons in our mouths, but it is my opinion that those who have power and influence have a duty to use it well. Yes, many of us who are successful worked hard to achieve success. I can assure you, though, that no one “makes it” on her or his own. People don’t really pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. We are all standing on the shoulders of those who came before and who provided positive opportunity in our lives. We all have the duty of noblesse oblige and those who live up to that responsibility are far more worthy of respect than those who do not.
It is such a shame that the movie contained such a terrible flaw because it was otherwise a true delight. I hope that no impressionable viewers of that film will decide to embrace smoking marijuana just because it looked fun and glamorous when the movie stars did it. That absolutely did happen when smoking cigarettes was glamorized in movies and TV. Be careful what you say, someone might be listening.