Norman's Far-From-Normal Legacy

It’s pretty amazing that in a week’s time, I’m here once again celebrating the life of another incredible centenarian.

While Charlie Munger passed 34 days short of his 100th birthday, the world lost another great in Norman Lear this week, who left this Earth after an amazing 101 years.

Writer and producer Phil Rosenthal said it best when describing the impact Norman Lear had on television: “Television can broken into two parts - before Norman, and after Norman.”

Here are three lessons I learned researching the life, career, and legacy of Norman Lear.

LESSON ONE: Live in the Present

As perhaps the most successful writer and producer in television history, one of the most difficult parts of the industry is knowing that today’s hit show can be yesterday’s news in a heartbeat. How did Norman Lear deal with the inevitable roller-coaster of popularity that was outside his control? Focus on today. He once said, “When something is over, it’s over. And we are all on to next. And if there was a hammock in the middle, that would be the best definition I could give of living in the moment. So, I think that’s what I’ve been able to do.”

He held the same advice for family. He struggled the first few times around, with two marriages ending in divorce until he met his third wife Lyn; they were married for 36 years until his passing. In his younger years as a father, he never felt as though he gave the necessary attention to his children and put too much focus on his shows. If he could have done it over again, he would have improved that work-life balance.

"Success is a moment-by-moment thing," he said. "So you wake up in the morning, and before the kids go to school, you connect with them. They leave the house feeling they have connected with the parents, and you feel good about having connected with your kids... What we have to remember in such cases is to pat ourselves on the back figuratively for having had a great moment, and move onto the next moment. A successful day is a day in which you're feeling good about yourself and your life." As a father of two who is constantly battling to do the juggling act of roles, this is brilliant advice!

LESSON TWO: Never stop learning!

In his 90s, people continuously marveled at the sharpness of Norman Lear’s mind. His secret? Never stop learning! He credits being curious and enthusiastic to continue learning and looking forward to tomorrow as keys to his longevity. “I don’t wake up in the morning to be old,” Lear said back in 2017. “I wake up to do the things that were on my mind when I fell asleep last night.”

Norman Lear quenched his curiosity in two ways. He saw the learning journey as multi-directional. On the horizontal plane, he strived to continue to find ways to learn more about the world. That journey could be through learning a craft, learning about others, or what is going on around you. I am certain that the insights he gained from this perspective helped Lear widen his scope and push the boundaries of television. At the same time, there is a second valuable journey: the path to learn more about who you really are. He believed that the pursuit of both avenues made for an interesting and meaningful life involving not only the pursuit of knowledge and new experiences, but the quest to become the best version of ourselves. I love this dual perspective, as learning about the external is extremely important, but the self-reflection that accompanies it allows us to live and serve to our fullest potential.

LESSON THREE: Fight for what you believe in

Throughout Norman Lear’s life, he chose to stand for something. As a young man, that meant dropping out of college to fight in World War II. While he valued college, it meant more for him to fly those 52 missions as a radio operator and gunner over Nazi territory to liberate the people he was fighting for.

For Norman Lear, the seed to fight injustice wasn’t planted in his teens; it began at age 9, listening to the radio broadcasts of Father Charles Coughlin. Listening to the anti-Semitism and support for Fascism that Coughlin preached, he recognized the need to speak up and stand for something that battled the so-called moral authority. In 1971, after a few successful decades as a comedy writer, Lear’s career took a big step forward when he modeled a new show based on a British sitcom about a working-class family. On January 12th, 1971, All in the Family debuted. It grew in popularity and then held the #1 spot in the U.S. for the next five years. Why was All In the Family so popular? Unlike most shows of the 1950s and 1960s that captured an idyllic, artificial depiction of the white American family, All in the Family broke that mold. Through the character of Archie Bunker, the show was able to create dialogue – and controversy - around sexism, racism, and homophobia rather than pretending that these issues didn’t exist in most American homes. Lear’s subsequent shows such as Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time all challenged the stereotypes of the day. These shows encouraged viewers to look in the mirror – while laughing their heads off in the process.

While Lear’s work was immensely popular on-screen, he didn’t rest there. In 1981, Norman he founded People for the American Way. The goal was to protect the first amendment by keeping church and state separate. In 2001, he embarked on another incredible journey. A firm believer in the principles on which this country was founded, he and his wife Lyn purchased one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence. He then launched a three year “road trip” including theatrical readings and reenactments. In 2004, he made his mark once again by founding Declare Yourself, a non-profit, non-partisan organization encouraging 18-29 year olds to vote. His organization has helped to register over 4 million voters. ?

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Reruns of old Norman Lear shows are becoming mainstream once again. Also, in 2017, One Day at a Time was remade. Why are these shows gaining popularity today? Because while the context may have been specific to their times, Norman Lear’s themes were timeless and spanned generations. With mindless reality TV storming the entertainment landscape for the past two decades, I am thankful for voices like Norman Lear. It takes a true visionary who can both challenge us as viewers to look in the mirror – and have the wit that can make us laugh and smile alongside the tears!