She was sitting next to Marilyn Monroe in Lee Strasberg‘s Actors Studio.

Lee said to her “you have talent.”

That made “all the difference in the world” — she had someone tell her that she had some self-worth.

The funny thing is you would think she wouldn’t have needed it because she was a very beautiful woman, and she had had a privileged upbringing.

But you see, that was something that hadn’t happened to her before. What you see is not always what you get. For Hank, was a complicated man and hard to get to know, to say the least.

And Jane couldn’t understand that in her first two acts.

So, Jane Fonda, Teacher Idealist, needed to learn things by herself, in her own authentic way.

 

For she needed to “make things better” in her own way — not like her phony ways of her first two acts.  She could not teach what she had not learned.  She did not want to, or could, teach what she had learned: her successful mistakes.

For she was not the captain of her soul, until she understood herself.  No, not until her third act, her Prime Time for teaching.

Now, she can teach with real authenticity.

Teachers are remarkably good with language, especially when communicating in speech, face to face. And they do not hesitate to speak out and let their feelings be known. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Teachers will voice their passions with dramatic flourish, and can, with practice, become charismatic public speakers. This verbal ability gives Teachers a good deal of influence in groups, and they are often asked to take a leadership role. [Please Understand Me II]

Idealists, as a Temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self — always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why,
if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Teach Your Children,
Crosby, Stills, and Nash

On Golden Pond

Yes, Hank, we think she will do just fine on her third act: she’s acting naturally.  By the way, acting naturally — that’s called Temperament.

I don’t think there’s anything more important than making peace before it’s too late. And it almost always falls to the child to try to move toward the parent. — Jane Fonda