Me and Daniel Day-Lewis

            I was reading about the actor Daniel Day-Lewis the other day. He’s definitely an amazing actor, whatever you think of his methods. Whenever I see the movie “There Will Be Blood,” I am always blown away by his larger than life presence. I’ve also enjoyed him in other movies, like “Lincoln.”

            Anyway, the thing that struck me as I was reading about Daniel Day-Lewis was the fact that at one point, he took a break from acting. After starring in the 1997 film “The Boxer,” he moved for a while to Florence, Italy, living under the radar until he returned to acting with the movie “Gangs of New York.” While living in Italy, Daniel Day-Lewis discovered a love of shoe making. After years of having a successful acting career, he became an apprentice to celebrated Italian shoemaker Stefano Bemer (his shoes would often cost over $3,000.00 a pair).  Bemer spoke highly of Daniel Day-Lewis, saying, “He was the best apprentice I ever had. Very motivated, and with a true passion for making shoes.”

            Reading about his break from acting, about his time in Italy making shoes, I remembered a time when I was briefly employed by a certain airline (I’m not going to name it). I had been hired, after a couple years of trying to get into the industry, as a ground service agent (the guy you see outside the window putting your suitcases into the plane). Us new hires in the middle of training were in a classroom, going over regulations if I remember right. And, as an icebreaker, the instructor asked each of us to take a turn and tell everyone “something special or unique” about ourselves.

            When it came to my turn I said that I spent almost two years living and working as a volunteer gardener in Israel (I didn’t mention whom I had worked for, since it was a religious organization, and it’s usually advised not to mention religion at work). I figured that that was one of the more interesting things about me, and a few of my new co-workers seemed intrigued. But the instructor seemed confused and flabbergasted. She replied by saying, “Well that’s… random.”

            I was honestly confused by her response. I kind of figured that she’d be more impressed and might even ask a follow-up question about what it was like living in the Middle East. But no, instead she just went onto the next person, apparently baffled by me. The instructor seemed more impressed by responses such as, "I love doing my makeup," and, "My favorite food is pizza." I was honestly puzzled by her response, because I figured that most people in the airline industry, whether they are a pilot or a flight attendant or a ground service agent, would at least have some interest in travel and exotic locations. Come to find out, at least some of my new co-workers hated travel (especially air travel), and didn’t bother using their flight benefits (granted, we weren’t the ones flying in the planes during our shifts, but still).

            A few weeks later, barely a month into my time of employment, I was fired from this certain airline. This was due to a new regulation, instituted just shortly after I was hired. The airline I was working for was beginning to move mail on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, which would be handled by the ground service agents. And because I had been living in the United States for less than five years since coming back from the Holy Land, I had to be let go from my new position. A few other ground service agents who had been working there for at least a couple years were also let go because of this same situation.

            To give the airline some credit, they tried to get me interviews within the company for different positions, before officially firing me. These didn’t work out too well. I was interviewing for another job within the airline, one in an office (reservations if I remember right). During the interview, after telling the manager about my love of travel and flight and how much I wanted to be in the airline industry, she kind of looked at me blankly and said, “Can’t you just go back to Home Depot?” (that was where I worked previously, which was nice but not where I wanted to spend the rest of my life working).

            Did I mention that I got let go from my new job right after attending my father’s funeral?

             So after being officially let go from the airline, I spent a little time unemployed. I looked at jobs, trying to find something that would at least kind of suit me. I worked a couple of temporary jobs during the holiday season to make money, and eventually found myself working at a luggage store for a couple of years. Now, after earning a TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certificate, I’m teaching abroad and loving it.

            Now you may be wondering, “What does any of this have to do with talented, multiple Academy Award winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis?” While reading about the actor, I kept thinking of that lady who said, “Well, that seems… random,” when I mentioned that I had lived in Israel. I feel that she would have the same reaction to hearing about Daniel Day-Lewis’s time spent in Italy. I’m sure many people would. I could imagine a lot of people saying to the actor, “What are you doing? You should be out there making more movies, raking in that money!”

            I don’t know the man personally, but I don’t think Daniel Day-Lewis wasted his time at all. For one, it’s beautiful, gorgeous Italy that he was living in! I’m sure that a lot of people, given the opportunity, would drop what they were doing and head over to Italy. Second, he was doing something that he apparently loved. Daniel Day-Lewis seems like the type of person who likes to make things; when he was a teenager he debated between becoming a professional actor or an apprentice cabinet maker (he loved wood-working). He seems like the type of man who, had he not made it as an actor, would have still found a creative outlet by building stuff. And he also seems like the type of guy who puts his all into something, whether it is an acting role or making a pair of high-quality shoes.

            So no, I don’t think Daniel Day-Lewis wasted his time in Italy. And quite frankly, I don’t think I wasted my time in Israel. As much as it absolutely sucked to get let go from an airline after working there for barely a month (and again, right after attending my father’s funeral), living in Israel was probably one of the most eye opening and enriching experiences of my life. I feel like I grew more as a person during that time than I had at any other previous point in my life.

            And now, as I write this blog article, lying on a couch with my laptop in an apartment in a foreign land, I think back to that instructor who responded with, “Well, that’s… random.” I wonder if she was one of those people at the airline who didn’t like to travel or fly.

Note: You can also check out my fantasy novel in progress "The Princess of Infinite Tomorrows" at https://princessofinfinitetomorrows.blogspot.com/. And if you'd like to check out my designs for T-shirts, coffee mugs, and more, head over to https://teespring.com/stores/justin-cecils-store.