The Blog about The Blog

Here at This Week in Charles Bronson we are still besides ourselves that we got to interview a member of Jill and Charlie’s family, and we were able to do it with respect and responsibility to the family and their privacy that they hold so dear.

Lindsay Ireland recently wrote in her blog at lindsayireland.com her gratitude for the opportunity to speak with us and how the interview gave all of us a present of looking into the past.

I don’t always like to look into the past. The death of my mother, brother and my years of alcoholism. I always chose to stay in the present as that was a suggestion of mindfulness in early recovery, but was I purposely blocking out the past? refusing the lessons that came with introspection? and what about the beauty of the past? The things I should remember.

Lindsay helps me to remember those things. Here I am claiming a responsibility to keep the names of pop culture icons alive when I can barely speak to my own family about my late mother or brother.

I have thought about the relatives that I lost a lot since Lindsay’s appearance on our show.

I feel like they were real again. I pushed feelings down so deep that I could hardly remember my mother or my brother, as if they had never existed.

If this seems like a very personal blog, it’s because it is. I am writing it for myself, but if it helps you in anyway. That would be a blessing.

There is so much to be learned from talking to others and listening to all they have to say as if your life depended on it.

I’m proud to say this all happened because I saw a very violent film on TV one night that launched a lifelong obsession with the actor Charles Bronson, searching for other fans, people who knew him, people who worked with him opened up a world of conversations.

What started as a study of film and how they were made became a study of people, how we related more than how we differed from one another.

We are all trying to get to the end of our own movie here on Earth in one piece, but I’ll be damned if we all don’t need to offer and accept a helping hand along the way.

Being present and helpful to one another begins with listening. Listening leads to understanding.

I honestly believe that one cannot understand themselves without attempting at the very least to understand others.

Thank you, Lindsay, for allowing us to ask the questions and the opportunity to listen.