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Being Awake in This Life
RD: Do you and your family go to church?Sarandon: No. I think we have a spiritual family and would have no objection if we could find a church that was connected to the real world and not exclusive.
RD: Having attended Catholic schools for years yourself, how do you feel about the recent abuse scandal facing the church?
Sarandon: There's pedophilia in every section of the populace, I'm sure. For me, the complex sin was committed by the people who allowed it to continue, because they felt entitled as members of the church to do this. This is not to say that there aren't fabulous religious people, like Sister Helen.
RD: Are you still an emissary for Unicef?
Sarandon: Yes. I've gone to India and Tanzania. I learned that 60 percent of the rural population in Tanzania doesn't have decent water to drink. So I've started a project on my own raising money for about 50 wells there. I'm going to take another trip to do outreach, but it's a tricky time to be flying to certain parts of the world, and my family wants to make sure that I'm safe.
RD: You believe in being a participant, not just letting life pass you by.
Sarandon: Yes. To be awake in your life.
RD: You once made a comment about Prozac, that we were drugging people out of their emotions. Do you feel there's too much pressure for people to be content?
Sarandon: I don't want to go on record saying nobody should be on it, but it's like George Orwell or something. Where are the artists going to come from? The writers? I saw a great sticker the other day that said: "Stop Whining, Start a Revolution."
RD: Is that what's behind your commitment to service and volunteerism?
Sarandon: I'm in touch with so many grassroots people much more selfless than I, and they see results, one story after another. Change never happens from the top down. Power always yields because it has to. So my work is self-serving. It keeps me from being incredibly depressed and despondent when the world is in the state it is. Watching people in service and reaching out to help gives me hope for the future.
RD: So your message is "Speak out and do something."
Sarandon: Absolutely. This is an amazing country, for all of its faults. My feeling is, dig in and let's try to change the world. Dissent is not only your right, it's your duty. When we were doing a celebration at the U.N. for Earth Day, we met these 12-year-old girls from Georgia who were working to clean up the dumping in their water. It was so beautiful to see these young women empowered like that. There should be a section of the news that's just today's story of encouragement, the story of one person who stuck it out and changed someone's life. It's happening everywhere.
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