NEWS
HAPPY 41ST JIM! (A Tribute)
17 Jan 2003 By BCDavis
(JCO Editor-In-Chief)
Forty-one years ago on this day, a new life came (probably screaming his lil' ol' head off) into this world in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.
Percy and Kathleen Carrey were probably beaming at their newborn, fouth, and youngest child. They named him James Eugene. (Probably to keep him humble, because, after all, you can't be TOO cool with a middle name like "Eugene.") And, like with every new life entering this world, the world changed forever.
James Eugene flourished as he grew up, through good times and bad, remembering it all, storing it away and applying what he learned to whatever life tossed his and his family's way. Through it all, the family stuck together, supporting one another no matter the situation. And James remembered, he learned, and he PRACTICED.
Days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years. And tragedy after tragedy eventually cought up with the happy family. They fought to the teeth. They eventually got back on their feet, always remembering, always learning, always applying what they experienced.
The children of the Carrey clan eventually grew and went their separate ways. Finding success in their separate ways. James Eugene made a promise to himself: he wrote a check to himself for $10M "for acting services rendered" payable by Thanksgiving, 1995. (Why? Not for the money, but because the money symbolized that he was successful, working with the best people in the industry, achieving his own dreams, and the dreams his family had for him.) He carried it in his wallet for years. He would drive up Mulholland and look out over the great city of The Angels, affirming to himself that success would come his way.
And it did, like a flood, back in 1994. He reached his goal. He paid off that check: before Thanksgiving, 1995. Too bad, James Eugene, you're timeline was off... but not by much... And the family STILL stuck together: for richer, for poorer; through sickness and in health; for better, for worse; 'till death do they part. Unfortunately, time marched on, and the last line came to bear. Kathleen passed on. Dedicated to her memory was James' highly lauded TV stand-up special, "Unnatural Act." Then, James biggest inspiration, his father, Percy, passed on. James put his check into his father's coffin. Yeah, dad. He did it. He made it.
And the family has STILL stuck together. Now they've passed on their legacy to their own respective new generations, including James': Jane Erin Carrey. Always remember, always learn.
I end my little (okay, no so little) tribute to James Eugene Carrey with these words:
"If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (I Corinthians 13:1-8a, 12-13 KJV)
Happy 41st birthday, James Eugene Carrey. Thank you (and your family) for showing us what I Corinthians 13 is really about. May we experience, may we remember, may we learn, may we apply.
-- Source: "The Legends of Jim Carrey" and "The Holy Bible, KJV." With thanks to Percy and Kathleen Carrey for having our man Jim. Click to comment this article.
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