Dave Richards for September 11th …………
--It was 18 years ago today that America came under attack. It is right and proper that we remember such an event. There are lots of TV shows on the subject.
I now understand why my elders didn’t really want to talk much about World War Two. They lived it. It wasn’t fun. It’s a memory they’d rather forget. After 18 years, I now feel that way about Tuesday September 11, 2001. But I certainly wouldn’t want to diminish the memory of those who suffered that day.
--I read on the news wire New York Governor Cuomo has signed a law that forces all school children in the State of New York to now pause for a moment of silence on September 11th each school year. It will mean little or nothing to them. In my opinion it is not the way to go and will not truly honor the people who should be honored. I’ll explain.
Do you remember when you were little and you were with your parents and somebody gave you something, maybe a toy or candy? You might be excited about what you just received and forgot to thank the giver. Of course, your parents would remind you…….”say thank you!”……and you always did, but the gratitude wasn’t as enthusiastic as if it had come from your own heart without the reminder.
Most of these kids weren’t born when the attacks happened. Come to think of it……..none of them were. It’s just like when your grandparents tried to get you to appreciate the hardships of The Great Depression. You might try, but you don’t really ‘get it’. And a law will not help you ‘get it’, either.
Forced tribute is seldom sincere.
--“Sarah Palin and her husband seek divorce after 30 years”. That’s the headline to what has to be a heartbreaking story. Nobody knows what makes two people become friends. Or in love with each other.
I thought I understood it once. It seems to me to be an accidental thing where the personal traits of one person simply don’t annoy the other person and vice versa. It’s a special thing between two people. Special and beautiful. That’s makes it all the more tragic when for an equally unexplainable reason the magic disappears. And more tragic still when children are involved.
Now add into the mix the fact that one of them used to be a nationally recognized figure, and you have a recipe for not only heartbreak, which would be bad enough, but also the public and news media poking their noses into your painful personal business.
It ain’t about winning and losing. Everybody loses something in a divorce.
My dear friend the late Joe Ferierre once said, “Actually, I think they should make it easier to get a divorce, but very much harder to get married in the first place. That would eventually solve the problem. “
--Alex Trebek is back on the air as host of Jeopardy. They started taping the shows back in July and the new ones are just starting to be shown. I’ve never heard of someone coming back from pancreatic cancer, but it appears Alex has. We don’t know how long he’ll be able to keep it up, but it really doesn’t matter, does it?
What truly matters is whatever time Alex has left, days, months, or years, that they be spent being useful and productive, don’t you think?
Alex is one of the few true ‘big shots’ I’ve spent time with. Did I tell you that story? Well, it came about because I lost on Jeopardy. Actually, while that sounds somewhat entertaining, I never really got on the Jeopardy show, far from it. I got blown out in the first round taking the prospective contestant quiz. But because I failed so early and so completely, I had a very unique opportunity to have nothing to do while the testing for prospective contestants continued, and I spent that time sitting and casually chatting with Alex.
Quiet and easy going, he lounged back in the folding chair next to mine as we relaxed and talked about his career and my career in broadcasting. I remember thinking what superb posture he displayed on camera and yet he was just lounging with me, chatting.
You could tell by how he talked how much he truly loved his work. In fact, he went out of his way to tell me repeatedly he felt lucky working for Griffin Productions (then owner of the show) because they built the set for the studio and never took it apart and put it in storage during the off-season, the set was left ready for air all year round. This, Alex explained, was key to how well the show worked on the air, and was different from other shows he’d worked where a monitor or buzzer or some technical device would malfunction during the taping of a game and they’d have to go back and perform ‘re-dos’. Not cool, and, Alex noted, it never looked right on the air when we had to edit the new sections in.
So, I’m delighted Alex Trebek can continue to work, and although we know the end will come to all of us someday, my wish for him is that God allows him to be working and happy on his last day.
--That's what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332. Thanks for reading.
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