YOU are Ashton Kutcher

Here’s a little known fact: I’m in Ashton Kutcher’s Fan Club.

Okay, I’m not actually signed up to be in his Fan Club and I don’t want to receive autographed postcards or A.K. Newsletters, but I am a big fan of how this guy treats people overall (let me assure you, my dear husband endorses this message as he knows I’m not ga-ga over this celebrity because he has a sexy “blue steel” look or something like that, hear me out and you’ll understand why).  I’m not saying I would vote him into the Noble Peace Prize Hall of Fame with the likes of Mother Teresa or Gandhi, but if you’ll pull up a school-desk next to me, we could learn a lot at The Ashton Kutcher University.

Born in the land of corn (Iowa) to a factory worker and a mama who made sure she hauled her family to a Roman Catholic church that honored her Irish roots, Ashton Kutcher came into this world kicking and screaming like we all do, but he didn’t come alone.  Ashton had a fraternal twin named Micheal and while they had many similarities, there was one thing about that was very different.  Ashton had a strong heart and Micheal did not.  When they were young, Micheal received a heart transplant in the hopes of getting another chance at life.  Unfortunately, not long after the surgery, Micheal developed a heart muscle disease that begin to weaken his newly transplanted heart.  The daily stress of Micheal’s failing health hit his twin brother hard and while Ashton’s friends dealt with the high school drama of dating, sports and parties, he struggled with thoughts of suicide.

Then one terrible day, Micheal’s heart stopped for a moment and the doctors had grim faces when they gave his family the report, “He only has hours to live”.  The news felt like a knife in Ashton’s chest and a few moments after hearing it, he climbed onto the hospital balcony, ready to jump and die so that his brother could have his heart and live.  

Ashton clearly remembers that day, "I'm standing on the balcony, thinking about jumping off, and my dad comes out and says, 'What are you thinking about?'  I tell him. He comes over and says, 'You can't do that' - and right then the doctors come rushing out, (saying), 'We have to prepare the operating room.  A woman died in Florida in a car accident, and there's a heart on the way.’"

The surgery was a success and Micheal and Ashton are still the best of brothers.  Ashton hasn’t been a model of perfection, but the choices he makes in life are evidence that his heart is not only physically strong, but also strong in good characteristics like kindness and humility.

Just the other day, I was talking on the phone to my sister-in-love, who is a fellow A.K. fan.  “Did you know that Ashton is known for responding to the ‘nobodies’ on Twitter?  That’s one of the reasons he has a HUGE following!”  Well, what do you think I did when I hung up?  I signed into my Twitter account and started following Ashton Kutcher of course!  Because, though I may be a somebody to my friends and a BIG somebody to my kids, to Ashton, I’m really a nobody.  The thought that somebody that BIG would shoot the breeze with ME seems pretty stinking cool.

If you think about it, everyone is a nobody to someone and a somebody to someone.  One can tell A LOT about a person’s character by how they treat the “nobodies”, the people in someone’s life that may seem to not do anything for them.  The people that won’t give them that big break, the people they may never see again; the stranger in line at the restroom, the McDonald’s worker that ask if they want fries with their order, the mom who spills her groceries in the parking lot when they’re in a hurry to get home, the man with a tear streaking his dirty face and smoking a cigarette by a back dumpster, or the kid who ask a celebrity on Twitter, “How can I be a movie-star as cool as you?”  Those people.  

A wise man I know named Bob Cole once said something that I adore, “Great people don’t just show off their treasures, but reveal to other people their own.  The funny thing about that is when we do reveal another’s treasure, we are better for it.  We learn something new.  We grow.  We get blessed.”

A friend I have, Daisy, lives this out.  Everywhere you go with this shining lady, she takes time to care about people, about the “nobodies”, because they matter to her.  I recall a time our children were jumping around the McDonald’s play-land together and a lady missing most of her teeth wearing tattered jean cut-off shorts smiled shyly at us and asked how old our kids were.  Daisy scooted close enough to hug this woman and treated her like the President of the United States.  Daisy asked her thoughtful questions, smiled warmly and listened intently.  Daisy loves on people who can’t necessarily give her a “leg up” in life and to me, that reveals the depth of her amazing character.

The truth is that no one is a nobody to everybody because everyone is a somebody to someone. Maybe you’re Ashton Kutcher's "nobody", but remember that to someone else, YOU are Ashton Kutcher.   

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own."

Disraeli

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.   

The Reverend Jesse Jackson