We tune out large disasters. More than ten thousand dead in China. Tens of thousands in Burma. It's such a hard thing to get one's head around that we can't comprehend it and move on. Often it is the little things that sink in and hit us and make us think.
I just saw an obit for a Baltimore Sun reporter. At first I thought he was 53, which I still view as old even though I'm less than ten years away from that milestone. Then I read closer and saw that he was 33 and died of brain cancer. I don't know this guy, I didn't know his byline and yet that hit me. In his ten years at the Sun he got to cover a Super Bowl and lots of other great events. He sounded like he had a lot of friends and kept working and living life until he couldn't anymore. He probably looked at all the places he'd been and things he'd done with a sense of pride. At least that was the impression the obit left.
I never did that. I was very fortunate in my old career. I went to big Hollywood events. It was glamorous. Of course, I never saw it as that. I never appreciated that a kid from Detroit with hideous SAT scores had somehow ended up in a tux at an awards show or trying to look hip at the music video awards. I never felt pride or gratitude. I never thought, `hey, this is cool.' Instead, I kept up my jaded and cynical facade which for some reason I thought was the way one should go through life. All that got me was a trail of busted relationships, turmoil and misery. I couldn't even appreciate the excitement my girlfriends felt about going to such events. Not that I was above using said events to try to get girls in the sack. My mother may have raised a cynic, but she didn't raise an idiot.
I know now that the jaded cynical approach is the easy way. It's the cheap way. Anyone can do it. I don't want to go that route anymore. I want to enjoy what I have, not complain about what I want or what I deserve. I've been there before and it only leads to more misery.
Now, what does all this have to do with ten thousand dead or some dude in Baltimore I don't even know dying of cancer at 33? Simply this. Go enjoy your day. Be nice to people. Stop worrying about what you don't have and enjoy what you do have. I know I need to do that.
Peace out.
2 comments:
words to live by, bro. What was the journalistic axim for importance? 10,000 dead in Burma equals 100 dead in London equals 10 dead in New York equals one in your town?
Kenny makes a move.
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