Sometimes things just happen. Or maybe God intervenes in the universe to finally give you a little dewdrop of joy to help you remember why it is you want to be good and go to heaven. Whatever the cause - the result is good.
In my case, it happened months ago. (So I'm a little lax on the blogging. Sue me.) As avid readers might know (both of you), I am a fan of "This American Life," a public radio show out of WBEZ in Chicago that is just under an hour-long radio program featuring an amalgam of radio feature stories that usually have a common theme. I like it so much I shill for it on my links section on the right side of this blog - the link reads "Now hear this." Check it out.
I discovered TAL when I had XM radio. It played every day, often re-runs from the show's deep catalog that goes back to 1995. I went looking for it on the internet once I got an iPod wondering how I might get my hands on old episodes without having to catch them every day at 5 p.m. on XM because it never failed I got in late. Turned out that TAL had a deal with an online book-content broker-type company called audible.com where all its online content was located for purchase. While it was bad enough Audible.com wanted me to subscribe to download TAL in mp3 format, the worse part was I could not figure out the basics of Audible.com's pricing or delivery method.
So I said screw it, I'll have to settle for streaming their old shows from the TAL website directly, which I couldn't capture because I'm, well, usually honest and even more lazy than I am honest to use some kind of software to capture what was designed not to be captured.
Then, one day, the day I describe in my first paragraph above, I went to check on the TAL website just to see what might be posted recently. And then I found an interesting link. It reads "New podcast" and I do a double-take. Did I just read that correctly? What do they mean 'free?'
Sure enough - free podcast. They worked out a deal with Audible.com, I'd learn, to give that week's episode away free in podcast form (excuse the non-sequiter: Milhouse: "It's Alf, but in POG form!!!") Then, they archive to Audible.com and can be bought there or via iTunes for 95 cents.
That was a woo-hoo moment. But more odd, was that I happened upon this on the very first day they were available. I had not been to this site in months, and the day I drop by to browse, they're offering the podcast for free.
Fast forward to today - when I'm listening to this week's podcast in my car. There's a nice story about a man who tried to invent a time machine so he could go back and warn his dead father not to smoke so many cigarettes and take better care of himself so that he wouldn't die young. The man became a highly placed scientist and the story's poignancy came from an Einstein contemporary telling this man that his father would be proud of him for what he had done throughout his life to try to develop a time machine. It was a touching story.
And while I tend to reference my own deceased father on this blog rather frequently, that's not why the story spurred me to finally get to peckin' away on the keyboard tonight. Instead, it was my admiration of the story that really gave me some clarity on my own existence.
What is it that I really want to be and do in my seemingly fleeting life? I was trained as a journalist and abandoned the purity and filth of that life for the pay and filth of a corporate job. Did I sell out? Did I give up my dream? Have I accomplished anything?
That show, and the thoughts it provoked, suggest that I did not sell out. I did not give up my dream. Do I have days when I wish I was out chasing stories as the Texas Country Reporter, a freelance feature writer, or even a This American Life reporter? Sure. But I am content in the fact that I know that I have done something meaningful in my professional life.
One of my greatest works of writing was a newspaper column about a personal friend who died. It won me a national award among all newspapers owned by that publishing company. I later won awards on the corporate side for developing and implementing communications campaigns to motivate employees to meet or exceed particular goals. I did my own self-assessment today about the last year and after intially wondering how I'd justify a middle-of-the-road rating, realized that I had exceeded several of my goals more than I had initially thought. Honestly, I hadn't even looked at my goals since last spring and was worried I'd been so off track that even though I busted my ass all year, I wouldn't be able to show any accomplishment in the areas where I was measured. But, it turned out, I wasn't too far off the path.
So, if as they say, even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while, I'm thankful for the serendipity.
