Liberal Arts? 5 Ways Keanu Reeves Proves He’s An Amazing Liberal

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Image from Indiewire.com

Tea party conservatives love to “talk the talk”, when it comes to following the teachings of Jesus Christ. They memorize chapters of bible verses, most of which they don’t understand the context of. They sing, dance, pray, curse, talk in tongues, faint, threaten, protest, and judge all in the name of Jesus Christ. But it would seem that there are not very many tea party “Christians” who actually live by Jesus Christ’s example. It’s just an art project — but not liberal arts.

A few years ago I worked overnight for a hotel. One week my van driver couldn’t stop talking about how excited she was to go see Steve Harvey live in concert, so?I was a bit surprised the following Monday when she didn’t say much about her experience. When I asked her she said, ?It was ok.? I asked her, ?Well was he funny?? She replied ?Yeah?.?

Then she went into the story of her and her friend’s experience backstage. She said she saw him walking briskly towards their group and asked:

?Mr. Harvey can we take a picture with you??

According to her Harvey’s reply was:

?It’s gonna have to be of my back, because I don’t stop for anybody?.

So she did just that, took a picture of him walking away, and she showed it to me.

Now to be fair this was a second-hand account, and I shouldn’t judge the man based on hearsay. However, I’d known Janet for several years, and she was always a straight shooter. So should I ever meet Steve Harvey, this story will probably be in the back of my mind.

Stories regarding rude, unfriendly, diva celebrities are not unusual. Everyone remembers the infamous Mel Gibson meltdowns, the Russell Crowe phone throwing incident, or any number of Justin Bieber acting like an entitled brat stories. But you don’t hear much about kind and humble Hollywood stars. Some people may believe that they don’t really exist. Well I’m here to tell you that there’s at least one, and his name Keanu Reeves.

Here are five?reasons why Keanu puts conservative tea party “Christians” to shame:

1. Money is not that important to Keanu.

Keanu has taken huge pay cuts in his movies so they could afford to bring on big name actors. For the movie ?The Replacements,? Keanu took a 90 percent pay cut so they could afford Gene Hackman. Keanu gave up millions so he could work with Al Pachino in ?Devil’s Advocate.? In his 2 ?Matrix? sequels, he chose to donate some of his points to the special effects and production teams. It’s estimated that he donated over 75 million dollars?to the crews of those films! He also gave the stunt crews for both films Harley Davidson motorcycles.

?A family friend builds movie sets, doesn’t design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyway, he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know peoples names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set. I’ve never heard anyone say Keanu is douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second-hand experience.? (Source)

2. Keanu is an incredibly well-read person.

In a detailed magazine interview Keanu revealed that he had read all of Proust’s ?Remembrance of Things Past.? This poem series is 1,500,000 words long and about 7 volumes. And it’s famously known to be 3,000 pages long. He did this while reading other books in between. Scott Derrickson, director of ?The Day the Earth Stood Still? described him as:

?one of the most voracious readers.”

Keanu has also recited Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 from memory.

He turned down a role, which was later casted by Almn Pachino, in Micheal Mann’s summer hit ?Heat.? He did this to honor a previous agreement to star in a live stage production of ?Hamlet? in Canada.

3. He gives his personal time, not just his money to people in need.

In 1997 Keanu was spotted sitting and chatting with a homeless man in Los Angeles. They spent a good amount time chatting and relating to each other as equals.

Now think about that. How many people actually sit down and talk to homeless people? I can imagine how surprised that person was, or even if he knew who he was chatting with that morning.

4. He inspires even the most heartless of people to do good.

The notorious web community known as 4chan has had a reputation for cyber-bullying underage teenage girls. They have even coaxed a few people to commit suicide. This isn’t a group known for its humanity.

During the ?Sad Keanu Meme? internet craze, which featured a picture of Keanu sitting down looking like the saddest man in the world; 4chan decided to launch ?cheer up Keanu Reeves day.? A Facebook?group was created for the event. Here’s an excerpt from the Facebook page:

?On June 15th, we plan on sending letters, emails, gifts, and any other niceties and kind words to a real bro, Keanu Reeves??

?In case you don’t know, Keanu’s sister Kim was diagnosed with leukemia many years ago. If you want to make a more significant gift, consider donating to a cancer research charity in the name of Cheer Up Keanu Day. I’m sure a letter or email informing Keanu of this action would really make his day.?

Being able to inspire a group like this to do something that good and noble is truly incredible. Truly liberal arts.

5. He really?doesn’t think he’s a big deal.

Imagine going to a party in honor of your new film. When you arrive, the club bouncer does not let you in. It’s safe to say most people would raise hell; pull out their ID’s or call up their publicists. Maybe even drop the ?Do you know who I am!?!? line. What did Keanu do? He simply went to the back of the line and waited, in the rain with everyone else. Here’s a quote from chauffeur Ronny Sunshine, aka the “Mad Limo Czar,” known for driving famous celebrities and rock bands worldwide:

“Keanu was really patiently waiting. No one recognized him. Keanu looks very ordinary. It was raining, but he just waited for his two friends to come. He didn’t act like he had money. I just thought he was a rock ‘n’ roller,”

Of all of his humble contributions, for me this one kind of takes the cake. Keanu had also been known to celebrate at least one birthday by going to a public place, then offering anyone who passed by and said hello a piece of his cake. Seriously, who does that? Keanu Reeves, that’s who.

Check out this video of Keanu on the subway:

And here’s an interview with Keanu explaining his outlook on life: