We in the United States should be all the more thankful for the freedom and religious tolerance we enjoy. And we should always remember the lessons learned from the Holocaust in hopes we stay vigilant against such inhumanity now and in the future.
I think it's important to remember that Christianity was based in love and tolerance and forgiveness and acceptance.
I remember that at the beginning of the month the kind of menus my mom and father would prepare for us would have fish chicken. But at the end of the month - because my father would be waiting for paycheck - the refrigerator would get empty. I remember that without a lot of food left some of the best meals happened right there.
The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it's something I had as a child or maybe it's something I had in Milan but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.
Food during my early years was a very difficult issue for me. I grew up in an addictive family. My mother had serious problems with alcohol and prescription drugs. I was an overweight kid. I can remember back in those days there weren't the strategies that there are today to deal with those issues.
There are times like after a long day of work when the thought of an easy drive-through is enticing. But then I remember how crappy I felt when I ate fast food in the past and it inspires me to head to the grocery store or my local farmer's market and whip up an easy but healthier option.
I will come up with a project that will wipe out poverty in the Philippines in two years. I want to remove the people from economic crisis by using the Marcos wealth. Long after I'm gone people will remember me for building them homes and roads and hospitals and giving them food.
You go to a show and there's no food at all so if you're doing shows back to back you can forget eating. I remember standing up in the bath one day and there was a mirror in front of me and I was so thin! I hated it. I never liked being that skinny.
I love inventive food but I want the classic dishes to taste like how I remember them. I get a little bummed out when there is too much fancy stuff going on and it doesn't resemble the original dish at all.
I remember once I read a book on mental illness and there was a nurse that had gotten sick. Do you know what she died from? From worrying about the mental patients not being able to get their food. She became a mental patient.
I do remember how it was to be poor. I do remember that in my early years we had to grow and raise all of our food even our animals. And I remember in my early life we didn't even have electricity. So it was very very hard times then.
I remember being onstage once when I didn't have fear: I got so scared I didn't have fear that it brought on an anxiety attack.
I remember looking at the sky and thinking that the universe is so big and it's all chaos. I call it 'the dark fear.' At any moment the dark fear could come in.
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.
I think the thing to remember though the next time you hear someone who is really certain that he is on the side of the angels is that the idea of angels was created by human beings who are famous for being frequently untrustworthy and occasional.
Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.
I don't really know a lot of famous people. I've met a lot of famous people. If I ran into Tom Hanks today I would have to remind him who I was and he would then remember me. But he wouldn't come up to me and say 'Hi Dave!'
I know I had my equivalents in Adrian Lester and Lenny James when I was at drama school. I remember David Harewood doing 'Othello' at the National and Adrian Lester having done Cheek by Jowl's famous 'As You Like It and Company' at the Donmar. Not necessarily performances I saw but just the fact they happened was massively encouraging.
I was a shy kid but somehow I knew I would make it as a performer. I'd always be telling my mum that I was going to be a famous singer. In my school yearbooks I would write 'Remember me when I'm famous.' I knew I had a gift.
I remember when I was an up-and-coming comic how annoyed I would be when the famous guys would show up and just take everyone's spots.
I remember Michael saying 'Rich and famous? It's much better to be just rich'. I didn't quite get it to begin with. But he's right. You lose anonymity. I say to my family that you've no idea until you lose it how precious anonymity is.
I don't want to be famous. I want to be secure. I don't want the world. I just want a piece of it. I want people to remember Eric Davis.
I remember saying goodbye to my father the night he left to join the Navy. He didn't have to. He was older than other servicemen and had a family to support but he wanted to be a part of the fight against fascism not just make movies about it. I admired this about him.
I enjoy being busy I really do. Remember I'm the stub end of the railroad. I have no family so I'm not taking busy time away from people that I should be spending it with. So I'm just relaxing and enjoying it.
In the modern media age we are rarely surprised by what we see. Whether it's on television or film or in the theatre everything is so advertised so trailed that most entertainment is merely what you thought it was going to be like.