As a labor supporter and TV enthusiast, who does not live in Hollywood I wondered what I could do to show my support for the writers' strike; and then it hit me. From now, until the strike is resolved, I make this pledge.
1. I will not participate in high-speed auto chases with the police.
2. If my wife cheats on me with her coworker at the local Motel 8, I will quietly file for divorce.
3. If someone requests an interview about gang activity on my cell block, I will hide in the showers until they are gone.
4. When I dance on a table at a wedding I will take extra care not to fall off.
5. I will refuse all dates with thirteen-year-olds I meet in on-line chat rooms.
6. I will not parachute or hang glide into trees or power lines.
7. If a Western gourmand appears in my jungle restaurant I will serve him grilled cheese sandwiches instead of the usual monkey balls soup.
8. If I commit a gruesome murder I will not leave plenty of clues.
9. I will decorate my house tastefully in the first place, so designers and neighbors will not be tempted to re-do it.
10. When I pull a heavily laden crab trap from the frozen Bering Sea I will not let out a loud hurrah.
11. I will always keep fresh litter boxes for my fifty-seven cats.
One person's simple pledge, I know, but if we all pledged together the effect would be profound. If everyone reading this now ignored just one puppy chasing one vacuum cleaner, refrained from slamming just one pick-up truck into one tree at ninety miles an hour, spent one less week purposely stranded in one less inhospitable desert with only a knife, a length of strapping material, a car door and some camera equipment-then, I believe, we could force the studios to give in, vindicate the writers and reassert our public right to the gory crime scene mysteries and silly half-hour comedies that Hollywood has taught us to expect and love. It's the least I can do. Please join me.
Until Victory. Solidarity Forever.
Read more thoughts about the strike on Huffington Post's writers' strike opinion page