Dateline: Home Study

Tom Barnett seems to have been taken to task for his post of a message that Denzel Washington pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check, on the spot, to build a new Fisher House, to the tune of $1.5 million. Well the facts are not quite like that. Washington did make a contribution but it was not done on the spot and it was not $1.5 million. My reaction is, so what?

I too saw the email that Tom posted and it seemed too good to be true but I also forwarded it to some friends. Big deal! All that has changed is a few of the facts. The essence of the message remains unchanged and that is that Denzel Washington is a caring patriot who made a significant contribution to help the families of those who were injured in the service of their country. What’s more, the fact the he made the contribution sometime later, out of sight of the cameras and after he had come down from the emotional high I’m sure he was on during his tour, makes me think even more of him. His contribution was truly a reflection of his personal sense of responsibility and honor and not a publicity stunt.

This is along the lines of an eye-witness who got a few facts wrong. The get away was actually black, not dark blue and the crook was 6’-0” not 5’-10”. None of that changes the fact that the bank was robbed and the witness was pretty close to being completely accurate. Would the police not stop a black car because it was said to be dark blue? Of course not, they would account for some inaccuracies in the eyewitness report. How many other stories in our lives are 100% accurate after being told for the fourth or fifth time? Human nature is to add a little here, take a little there, but the gist of the message remains.

By comparison, the slightly inaccurate story about Washington pales when viewed next to Peter Arnett and the “Baby Milk Factory” of Gulf War I fame or his and CNN’s Operation Tailwind fabrication. And let’s not forget our buddy Dan Rather and his fabricated memos. It’s great that Tom Barnett corrected the story in his blog but I don’t see the error as a major one. Denzel Washington seems to really be a good guy and my opinion of him is higher as a result of what he did.