Jerry Lewis never meant to present the kids he fought so hard for as "poor
little orphelines." He was very passionate about getting funding to help such
children survive their childhoods, which was why he did those telethons year
after year after year. He never told why this mattered so deeply as it did to
him. It is suspected that he had close friends and possibly relatives who died
of muscular distrophy, and that this was done in their memory. The presentation
of the children he worked so hard for as pitiable was simply the way such
appeals were presented when he was growing up, and he continued them, not
knowing any other way to do so and not realizing that he was possibly demeaning
the very children he wished to help. He poured the greater portion of his own
excess income into funding research to help these children live to and through
maturity, and had specific children he sponsored he visited regularly, grieving
deeply each time one of them died in spite of the medical care he helped obtain
for them.
He was a perfectly normal person who did indeed put on the persona of a mentally
and/or socially challenged person in his performances, and he was excellent in
pantomime, a skill most on this list would not appreciate as it is basically
visual in nature, as is slapstick humor. As a kid I loved his performances.
Was never into the telethons, as they were not of any interest to my stepdad,
who ruled the television on his days off from Boeing. And believe me, Labor Day
was one of his days off from work.
I was highly offended by the pastor of a Wisconsin-Missouri synod Lutheran
church to which I took one of my past clients. He held up Jerry Lewis as a man
to be lauded as one who worked hard at a cause that he served passionately, and
then casually threw the man away by noting, "Too bad he won't reap anything good
from it in the end as he's Jewish and not a Christian who has been saved by his
faith."
I've seen a lot of so-called Christians who have done not one whit of good for
the world in which we live. I doubt that their surface-held faith will get them
anywhere, actually, while I suspect that the good Lord is already welcoming
Jerry Lewis as one who did indeed always seek to help the least of the children
of the world in whatever ways he knew how.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very
wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!