One Can Make a Difference Read Online Free

my mother had filled with old clothes. Basically, I had a strong desire to be watched, to have people look at me, so I would dress up and become different characters. Most actors tend not to like to admit that they just want to be noticed, but that’s what it is.
    However, no matter how much you want to put yourself out there, no matter how much you want the attention, doing so can be frightening. Over the years, I’ve learned that fear is an important emotion, that if we harness it properly it can drive us and push us toward new challenges. For example, my band, the Bacon Brothers, played Carnegie Hall in 2007, just one song: a tribute to Bruce Springsteen. Bruce is a huge hero to me, so it was very frightening to think I had to stand up and try to interpret one of the Master’s works, especially because we were doing it very differently, with an accordion, a cello, and we changed up the guitar. I was sitting in the dressing room, stressing out and Bruce walked in. It was a heart in my mouth kind of moment but it probably made me play better!
    The same is true with the stage. Everything can go wrong on stage: it’s live and so there’s always danger. A prop falls, you forget your lines, someone in the front row starts snoring, a cell phone goes off. I get butterflies in my stomach, at times my knees have actually been shaking, I’ve been nauseous and short of breath, but luckily I don’t sweat a lot! That kind of fear keeps you on your toes, makes you work harder. With movies, it’s a different fear because a movie set is comfortable to me; it’s like my living room. But even then, things can go wrong with a stunt or something, and there’s still always the fear that the movie will come out and no one will see it or—maybe this is worse—if they do, they’ll discover what a big fraud you are! Another good thing about fear is the tremendous rush that comes when it’s over. The feeling that you’ve conquered. Perhaps for that reason, I love amusement rides, but I don’t jump out of planes. That’s too much of a good thing!
    In my personal life, I worried that I wasn’t doing enough for the world. It can be hard to figure out what to do. Celebrities are asked constantly to go to benefits. You could do a benefit a night and so it’s hard not to get too spread out. I’m devoted to my family, my wife, but I also want to help.You know how you feel when you pick up the newspaper in the morning and read about the bodies, people and animals dying, hunger, climate change? It can be overwhelming. I’m raising two kids and I see that sense of hopelessness sometimes present with their generation. I want to reach out and do something about that. People like Bono are doing great campaigns in Africa, Live Aid; other people have found ways to help. I was thinking about it all one day while I was putting some of Paul Newman’s dressing on my salad. I realized that Paul raised hundreds of millions of dollars for good causes just by doing what he likes to do, cooking.
    I thought “what brands me?” and that gave me an idea.
    I’ll admit that when I first heard about Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon I didn’t like it. I thought it was a joke at my expense.
    I think that’s part of the fear thing, your head gives in to that and you think people are laughing at you. But, as time went on, I met the guys that conceived the idea and I realized that they had a real fondness for my work. They had chosen me because of the sheer number of films I have crammed into my life. I’ve taken the little and the big parts and I’ve been in films in which I was one of a huge cast—every actor in the world was in JFK . That made me the ideal “six degrees” guy. It was cool!
    I thought, “That’s my brand now. I can use that.” Because I do believe that we’re all connected, not just in movies or photographs, but in the world. All