My wonderful wife (my biggest blessing for 28 years now) and I have never been blessed with children. Cats, yes, and they’re great, but… I once in a while think all the many thousands of words and stories I’ve written are my children, in a way, sent out into the world – good, bad, rushed or well-composed – to have their impact and make their way.
And much like kids, sometimes my words and articles do me proud, and other times they turn on me, when I haven’t given them the time and attention they deserve. Fortunately, with words, there can be do-overs of sorts, but on the Net, older versions can live on, so it pays to be careful;-)
I also think of the younger folks I work with – whom I see, alas, far more than my real family, living in other areas – as the people I can affect and influence into the future, bit by bit, answering their questions, editing their scripts (sometimes over-editing, for sure) and just generally showing an insane work ethic and things like that, that hopefully can rub off on them in positive ways as they make their own lives and careers happen.
So through a LinkedIn post I found this – the Tao of Journalism pledge – and it was so nice to see others in this media-blaming, government-blaming world try to find a common set of principles that are simple, not high-falutin and easy to understand. Honesty, transparency, accuracy – the things I cling to, to get by on a harried news day – all summed up nicely.
I hope things like that catch fire, and as I’ve written many a time, that we move beyond the Blame Society and the finger-pointing to find all things we do agree on.
America doesn’t stand for your side ‘winning.’ but listening to the other side, incorporating its best ideas and coming together to move forward. If that sounds like a blowhard politician, so be it. If we lived up to such a mission, rather than paying it lip service, maybe we’d get something done rather than simply know who to blame for what isn’t getting done.
Those who feed on fear, hate and divisiveness don’t deserve your time or attention. The trolls who grab the microphone to, in essence, spit on those who provides it should be called out for what they are. Those who believe their political side, their view are the One True Way for a perfect society are misleading themselves and being used.
In My Humble Opinion.
Yep, if all of us only hated those who are filled with hate, we wouldn’t have a kumbaya Utopia – ain’t gonna happen – but at least we could have civil, rational discussions about very tough problems.
There I go again, off on the same ol’ tangent. Oh well, even if no one (or few) are listening, it feels good to state it.
Maybe one day there’ll be THAT kind of political movement, and we can get over the idea that any one politician will transform society. It’ll have to be us. And that’s a good thing.
Leave it to Barney 
I believe blame of any kind is wasted energy. Instead we could use th energy and passion to make positive changes.
Ya know Barney, the above written piece should be posted, required reading in all government offices, workplaces, and schools.
It works on so many levels. There is definitely a sort of constructive universal message there which we should all think about from time to time.
Good job
Thanks Bob, mighty kind of you.