Some people

I've been thinking about this post since last night and I just have to write it, even at the unreasonable hour of 11:42.

Watching interviews with lovely British people has brought considerable joy into my heart in the past.

They are amazing actors.

Wonderful people in general.

Amazingly smart and dashing.

Hilarious and extremely interesting in real life.

Scrolling through quotes from interviews of the above is nearly as good as watching the interviews themselves (and takes up considerably more time, especially if said pictures are found on Pinterest. No, I don't have an account. Yes, I still spend too many hours on it.)
But after watching interviews for an hour (time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'... into the future...) or scrolling through Pinterest for two, I always leave feeling empty and a little dumber. (And then I feel remorse at wasting my time and give up interviews and Pinterest and fling myself into the waiting arms of some Literature book and thusly, feel smart again.)
Only the other day did I realize what the emptiness was. Let me describe said emptiness first.
I felt like I should love Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston as much as the other girls. I felt like I should "fangirl" over them too. After all, they are pretty much the epitome of the Perfect Male on earth, right?








I mean, aren't they just the most adorable things in the entire universe?!? (Notice my satirical sarcasm here. I'm turning into Mr. Bennet. In 50 years you'll find me penniless, holed up in my library, laughing at the world's follies.)
Anyway, back to the point...

Stephen Fry. He plays Jeeves. He also plays the Master of Laketown. He is also the narrator for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. He has wonderful facial expressions.

And he's in extremely interesting person. He has all sorts of witticisms, and advice on how to live in a not so great world. People love him. Like I said, I find him very interesting, but I just can't love him.

Hugh Laurie. He's Stephen Fry's best friend. They went to university together, along with Emma Thompson. All three were a part of the same comedy group at uni that Monty Python came out of. He played Bertie Wooster. He played Mr. Palmer. He also makes hilarious facial expressions.

 

He plays BLUES. He's amazing pianist, singer, and songwriter. But I just can't love him.

Shall I go on? One more.

Tom Hiddleston. Loki, the most beloved villain, from the Avengers franchise. In real life, Tom Hiddleston holds a degree in literature. He is very very very well-versed in Shakespeare and other classic literature. This gives him a high ranking in my sight. He is also a great actor, very handsome, and has an adorable laugh (which would be perfect for one Sir Percy Blakeney).

But I just can't love him the way other fangirls do. (Not that I'm a fangirl. I'm not and never wish to be.)

Why, why can't I be so dippy for these British men? Why do I fill with increasing indifference and even - dare I say? - dislike when I watch more and more interviews conducted with them?
The answer his me square in the face the other night.
It's because they are missing something.
An important something that stops me from lavishing unequivocal praises on them. Something that stops me from setting them up as a role model. Something that stops me from saying "I want my future husband to be polite to me like Tom Hiddleston would!"
It's Jesus.
These men are missing God in their lives.
They are successful, loved everywhere they go. They claim to be happy and peaceful. But I don't believe real, true peace (peace that transcends understanding - Philippians 4) can be had without God. I don't believe you can experience full happiness and fulfillment without God. Even successful people feel it. There was a football player who said something along the lines of, "I have a lot of money which could buy me anything, but I still feel empty."
Celebrities, regardless of whether or not they are British, just don't appeal to me. They could be the politest, smartest, and bestest, but they just don't fit the bill. I don't love them. I don't envy them. I think that to love them, and to continue to excessively watch interviews and scroll through their pictures would be idolatry. My example is Jesus Christ. Everyone else pales in comparison to him. My other examples are godly men. My dad, my pastor, others in my church. I'd much rather spend a day when them than with Tom Hiddleston or Ramin Karimloo (to be fair, he's not British. He's an Iranian Canadian. Which rhymes. Wait for it...)

The most I can say for these people is that I "greatly admire and esteem them." Most girls out there are probably thinking "Use those words again and I shall leave the room!" I shall leave saying:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2: 15-17