Reflection

This is the time of year when journalists and writers look back and tell us what they thought was the best and worst of everything. I’ve tried to make this space about the four things that I feel are important issues, and can be viewed as a common denominator for many of us. Journalism, politics, language, and life cover a lot of ground.  The idea behind these pieces starts with journalism, to which I devoted a career, and helps me express my thoughts and opinions on the practice of the profession and the three most important areas it teaches us about.

It starts with the writing and the ability to tell a story that engages people to feel something, to think about an issue differently, and to exchange ideas. Journalists were guaranteed great freedom and responsibility by the First Amendment. Journalists faced one of their greatest challenges this year trying to cover a presidential election like no other. I’ve tried to write about the importance of asking challenging questions, and demanding answers. As a profession, we fell short. We were bulldozed and sucked in by a carnival barker who fooled us all. The ignorance of history tells us if we don’t learn its lessons, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes. The nationalistic fever that’s spreading across the world makes us forget the refusal of the world to help the Jews in the face the Holocaust, the internment of the Japanese in World War II, and the struggle for civil rights. A society of exclusion can never succeed. Fear and division make us weaker, not stronger. This all means we must be ever more vigilant as a new year and new era opens.

I’ve wanted to examine language and how it can be used to make us laugh, cry, think, and listen to its beauty. While we now can communicate instantly in 140 character bursts, we should never lose our appreciation for the lyrics of language. People will long remember a great story, or speech, or song before they will remember a great tweet. I quoted the writer Somerset Maugham who said, “All words I use in my stories can be found in the dictionary-it’s just a matter of arranging them into the right sentences.” That’s the art of writing.

Writing about life gave me a chance to share many different experiences and stories. It ranged from the my last meaningful birthday, turning 65. Everyone after that is in the plus category. The fear of snow that the television news business has perfected into an art form. The joys of the neighborhood hardware store. Trusting doctors and nurses as I underwent surgery in a delicate area. Remembering my childhood hero Mickey Mantle, and how I learned heroes have flaws. The new hopeful heroes I see in three young men, golfers Jordon Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day. The heroes I stumbled upon when I heard the chilling audio tapes of air traffic controllers dealing with the 9/11 hijackers in real time as they sped toward their targets. The pride I felt being re-united with the journalists I worked with on the darkest day in Philadelphia history when the city bombed a neighborhood killing 11 people. The doubts I had about helping a woman I found laying by the side of the road. The death of my mother after she drifted into dementia caused, in part, by years of loneliness.

Writing is a solitary art. It can be a struggle. I’ve quoted James Joyce who said, “Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for the sins committed in a previous life. The English reading public explains the reason.” But writers can never stop writing. It’s who we are. We are never satisfied, and must always try to be better. The time for reflection is over. It’s a new year. Time to look forward.