Hollywood stars inspire

LOS ANGELES—The stars were understandably hesitant when asked what good deeds they did this year. But eventually, they relented and graciously answered. We hope their thoughts inspire you, dear readers, to also “do the right thing” in 2014 and   in all the years to come.

Emma Thompson

I tend to feel [the way] Oscar Wilde felt. He said, “I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character.” So it’s how you behave toward every person you encounter, every day—that’s what makes who you are.

It’s no good being nice to some people and then unpleasant to the man who’s going to park your car or the woman who’s going to do your nails. That just doesn’t wash because then you’re making a hierarchy of human beings instead of saying, “I am you and you are me.” Once you realize that, there is no good deed because you’re treating everyone the same. It makes you innately kind unless you’re very cruel to yourself—in which case you’ll be cruel to everybody else. God knows we see that in all professions.

Giving back—I hear people saying that a lot. It’s good to engage, I suppose. Giving back is being engaged all the time and being curious, speaking out when you witness injustice. Doing a good deed requires courage. Sometimes you don’t want to say it because you feel embarrassed to say to somebody, “I don’t want to listen to that. I don’t want to hear you speaking like that about homosexuals, black people.” It’s uncomfortable to challenge people, especially at a dinner or something.

Liam Hemsworth

My dad worked in Child Protection and Human Services my whole life. My brothers and I are ambassadors for the Australian Childhood Foundation, which protects kids and helps those who have been abused or could be abused. It’s about educating families in neighborhoods and schools about how serious child abuse is.

I am from a great family, with parents who are so supportive and loving. I had a safe home where I felt comfortable. I was able to dream big and had the support to live out those dreams. I strongly believe in helping children so they grow up in safe environments where they are able to dream big, too. The home is where it begins, where people’s morals and respect for others are nurtured.

Woody Harrelson

Good deeds—that’s an interesting thing because we live in this world where emotionality is muted or constrained. I used to be so much more gregarious when I was younger and maybe less famous. When I was anonymous, I would be so much more open. Anyway, one of the coolest good deeds, which doesn’t require much energy, is a smile. Haven’t you [experienced] that when you are walking and someone smiles at you? The smile just really gives you a lift.

I have this nonwood paper company (Prairie Paper Ventures) going. It’s really been my dream for a long time. More people are coming into it—like this gentleman, Tom Kartsotis, the creator of Fossil. I thought it was a really good deed—how he believed in this company. He was the first guy to really get behind it. Around half the trees cut in this world are cut for paper products…like three billion trees cut a year (around 65,000 trees to make the Sunday New York Times alone). So a good deed would be to stop making paper out of trees. I noticed that I managed to promote, as well as answer that question (laughs).

Josh Hutcherson

Giving back is really about perspective. When you step back and look at your own life and then you look at somebody else who’s in a less fortunate situation, it’s crazy to not want to lend a hand in some way. Giving back can mean anything; it depends on the person.

I don’t think material things are what I want to focus on when giving back. It’s more about a new way of thinking, trying to give somebody confidence or a voice to be themselves. If you can find a way to be comfortable and confident with yourself, then you can be happy any time. The way I have chosen to go about that is to work with an organization that my friend and I started, Straight But Not Narrow. It’s a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual/straight allied organization.

We are a group of straight people who try and bridge the gap between the gay and straight communities. We set up gay/straight alliances in high schools and open dialogue between kids on Twitter and Facebook, get the conversation going about being open about who you are and being comfortable with being yourself.

Jennifer Lawrence

I’m giving back to my family and my brothers, in particular. I remember when I first signed on to “The Hunger Games.” I gave back to my parents for giving up their entire lives so that I could do this (acting) but my brothers were also a huge part of that. They were actually the ones who convinced my parents to let that happen.

My brothers lost parents for a couple of years (to be with me) until I was 17, 18 and out on my own. And my parents moved back to our home. My brothers gave up their mom and dad for a little bit to help me. Lately, I’ve been focusing on giving back to my brothers in certain ways. And also to my friends, who put up with me.

Colin Farrell

A good deed could be a certain amount of inactivity, like not actively trying to make other people’s lives a nightmare—trying not to cause people pain, not to judge harshly, not to say cruel things.

My mother was a homemaker. My dad worked very hard to make sure that we had what we needed. He’s retired. The many hours that he used to work when I was growing up are a thing of the past. But it’s certainly lovely to be in a position where, if any of my family needs a little assistance, I can for sure be able to help out. That’s one of the greatest things about this fame nonsense, celebrity and all, which comes as a result of being in films.

Simon Baker

It’s not something that I dwell on. I don’t think about it like, wow, that was a good thing I just did. I work with a few different charities. Most of the time, the reality of that is, generally, the problem that most charities have is funding. So most of the time, it’s writing a check or something like that.

Mending Kids International is a charity that my wife connected us to. There are charities that are personal to you and then there are charities that you can help. But most of the time, the things that are more personal to me, as a parent or as a husband, and less to me as a celebrity, like Mending Kids International—it’s not something that I like to talk about in a massive way.

Mending Kids International is a charity that takes kids who are in developing countries and need major medical procedures and surgeries. They are brought over to the United States and they stay with families. They have these operations and then they recover under the care of host families. We have friends who hosted four or five kids for sometimes up to six months at a time. My wife and I have discussed what an impact it has had, not only on the kids who had surgeries but also on the host families. We have been involved with that and the impact on our families has been great.

Christian Bale

Doing something good is when it’s desperately inconvenient to you—that’s when it’s good. If it’s convenient to you, it’s not really that good.

I can’t help mentioning it. I landed at 4 o’clock this morning and I saw the news about this Batkid, this little Miles Cross [who is in remission from leukemia and was granted his wish to be a superhero for a day] in San Francisco and the Make-A-Wish Foundation…what an incredible thing that people got together with that…what a wonderful thing to create that for this little boy.

(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at https:// twitter.com/nepalesruben.)

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