Apparently, despite Ben Affleck’s original protestations a year or so back, he has an absolutely garish tattoo that takes up the whole of his back and then some.  Fast forward to this past week when Ben Affleck was photographed on a beach looking pensive and possibly horribly lonely. A photographer caught a shot of the horrible tattoo. Then, a New Yorker magazine writer put together a piece on the great sadness that is supposedly Ben Affleck, citing in part, this photo of him on the beach as proof of their premise.

If I were him, I would not be too thrilled with the photo and article that they published on him. I don’t think anybody would be thrilled. They basically proclaimed that Ben Affleck had been one of “Hollywood’s marquee male celebrities for almost two decades” and now he wasn’t.  True, he was not all that great in terms of acting in his recent films. However, he seems to be doing well as a film Director. Thus, because he has transitioned from one career role to another that means there is great sadness to him?   I believe that they are making way too much about it all and using him as a scapegoat for, or rather as a symbol of, whatever ills have befallen society.

I applaud Ben Affleck for taking on new roles and undergoing a metamorphosis. I must readily admit I have not seen Argo. I have not seen Gone Girl. One day I will. But I already know the plots and ending for both films because I am one of those weirdos that tends to read the ending of a book first.  But back to Ben for a second. Her clapped back at the New Yorker Magazine with the following Tweet “@NewYorker I’m doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos.”  Yup, that is how you respond to ridiculousness. You show you have a thick skin. You make fun of your self. You state it for all to hear.

I keep thinking about how that photographer caught Ben Affleck in one moment in time.  We could all be caught looking pensive to the point of being scared, lonely, or angry.   It doesn’t mean we are broken even if we embodied all three emotional states. Also, one can easily go from pensive to joyous in a second, hour or day. Just because we are photographed one way, does not mean we are static in our being.