I was flying home from the US on Saturday and watched Florence Foster Jenkins, the true story of a woman with almost no singing ability but a host of loyal friends willing to sustain her belief that she possessed it. Audiences were manufactured, singing teachers paid enormous sums, pianists rewarded for their loyalty and bad reviews carefully kept from her. She sailed through life inside a false perception of herself. When reality finally punctured the bubble, she died.
I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Jason Arday, following the relentless scrutiny of the extraordinary story surrounding his academic success. There is something in the stories of both Arday and Florence Foster Jenkins that should disturb us. In each, we see the danger of what happens when nice wins over truth, when pride wins over humility, and when human self-sufficiency is eventually shown to be insufficient.