The Harshest Judge

(WSJ illustration)

Tom Hanks regrets the "accumulated minutes wasted" playing solitaire (the old-fashioned way with cards, not on the computer) this past year.

And what else was there to do?

Actually, there was plenty to do! Damn! There was a sink to clean out and a dishwasher to empty. Laundry to sort. Rice to put in the cooker with the timer set for breakfast. Letters I could have written and the typewriter and stationery to do it.

Books I had packed in a suitcase were set on a reading stack, unread, even though I was, sort of, always reading one of them. There were floor exercises and yoga stretches to do. I have kids to talk to when they are available. I have business partners to contact. I have friends who are hilarious and interesting. I have scenes to study and work to prepare. I have stories in my head—and I tell stories for a living—that could have been sketched out, noted, outlined. I could have re-watched “Chernobyl” on HBO!

As with many successful people, Tom Hanks' harshest judge is himself.

"I did get around to doing many of those things. I lived up to most of my responsibilities," he says, and yet like the common men he often portrays,thinks he didn't do enough.

Tom Hanks is one of the most successful, famous, and admired people in the world. At the age of 64 he may be sensing his mortality, accentuated by his and his wife Rita's battle with COVID-19 in 2020.

If he wanted to quit, or at least kick back, no one would begrudge him. He just has to give himself permission.