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03/15/2007: "A Different Kind of Rainbow Warrior"

As I write this, Angelina Jolie is headed home from Viet Nam with her latest adopted child. Pax Thien Jolie will join his adopted siblings, one each from Cambodia and Africa, as well as Jolie's natural child born from her relationship with Brad Pitt.

Being a relatively conservative person, there's a lot to dislike about Jolie and her life choices. There's her previous relationship with Billy Bob Thornton (remember the blood sample necklaces?), and the rapidly multiplying tattoos, and the willingness to have children with Pitt but not marry him. Then there's the ongoing feud with her father, Jon Voight.

But to judge her in this fashion would sell her short. Unlike the typically short-sighted decisions that seem to accompany celebrity, Jolie is making calculated, considered decisions. She travels the world as an ambassador for the United Nations - and not one of those celebrity wannabees. She's been to some of the toughest places on the planet, willing to roll up her sleeves to see what must be seen, and has even been a kidnap target for her dedication to the job. She's the real deal.

Put in context, even her personal decisions begin to show a logical pattern. She and Pitt recently moved to New Orleans to show support for the beleagured city, and the publicity generated helps keep the Big Easy in the public eye. Her mixed race brood, a United Nations of a different kind, seems to form a new kind of Rainbow Coalition. Strange as it seems, it sends the message that we are more similar than we are different, and if we can't work together, we'll fail.

OK, maybe I'm reading more into it than there is. Maybe she just likes seeing different faces. But I think there is a method to the madness, and I'm waiting to see what happens next ...