In the Wizard of Oz the truest shape of reality isn’t based on following a yellow brick road but rather unmasking the identity of the unseen roots required to keep you growing. Each character presented be it good, bad or somewhere in between wasn’t the fault of Dorothy but rather the strength behind our choices when it comes to how we present ourselves to other people.
From the outside my mentor in life Dr. Ronald Mack from Wake Forest University was an extremely powerful Superman of a medical expert whose journey created trembles in the soles of your shoes for fear of never living up to his expectations. When invited to bring conversation to his circle of life if you couldn’t back up your research he’d land blast you, “Get out! Come back when you know what you’re talking about!”
From thirty feet out, his presentation might have been seen as a wickedly sick in the mind book loving mad wizard who sought only the best in dialogue…when in reality; the doctor had a way of making you a better storyteller with a strong background in debate.
We’re constantly reminded to never judge a book by its cover…two quick clicks onto Facebook and we’re delivered everything but the real person. Schools, businesses and religious organizations hunt down the creative’s who’ve chosen to overexert their personalities on an open forum of conversation. American Idol’s Adam Lambert ripped every photo of himself off the sheets of invisible paper because he knew if the rest of the world found out…he’d barely make it past the avenues of acceptance.
The workplace is no different. Hard work, dedication and loyalty descriptions are usually given to the employees who find comfort in busting tail until the break of dawn. The assumption is vacation seekers reek of reasons to dismiss lying them next to the pollywogs who constantly complain of pain or willow wallow through their day like Eeyore softly churning into play, “I’ll be ok.”
I’ve spent over ten years researching masks and how the human spirit is levitated toward giant daily masquerade parties whose guests include everything and everybody but the real you. Grandma used to joke around about Grandpa’s skeletons in the closet. Mom has never truly explained my real fathers dirty little secrets. Truth is…I don’t care. Why should I? If what Native Americans believe to be true that what we do today affects the next seven generations then the bickering on these streets our state can’t pay for must conclude.
Just be you. I’m not worried about not liking you. Opposites attract and today just didn’t happen to be the day our magnets were spun in the proper direction. We’re supposed to have moments of disagreement—it showcases care and concern. Nagging is a jealousy thing, “Take out the trash! Wash the car! Do this work! Once you do…I can be lazy like you!”
Every morning before that bum of a sun wakes up the ink from my pen is spilling thoughts onto a once living tree and inside each pour placed on paper I ask, “So who are you right now? Tell me why you feel this way. Wow! That’s cool is there any more room in there for an ego worth holding onto?”
Keep it real by being real. I can fake a smile better than your mother in law. But why waste the energy being mean and down right honorary?
Control freaks and micromanagers are the most misunderstood people on earth. While driving your path straight into a tree the true real yellow brick road is, “I know how lazy I can be I just don’t want you to become me. By jumping on your back like Yoda on top of Luke Skywalker we can become a full Jedi Knight.”
Radio Broadcasters…oh, oh that’s a pretty scary attempt at trying to explain something especially since every voice you hear or have heard is nothing more than a snow flake blanketing a mountainside. There are no two radio people the same. Each voice and passion is different creating a tale of several cities blessed with some pretty hunky dory stories.
It’s an extremely small world and when you lose a member the silence you feel doesn’t really belong to you, a true broadcaster puts other people first so each of our emotions sits on a chair or stool covered by a person, place of thing that elected to take a few seconds to do something incredibly special…listen. There’s no feeling like it. Which is why so many become addicted to it…the vibration is a gift with endless purpose.
Fifty three inches from the front door of any studio USA one naturally assumes the shapes we create are held together by strong gut wrenching forms of competition…until you take the time to look at the wizards behind the curtain.
It is the birth of love meets performance. Anybody can be a jock but can it be read in the blood shot stains in the corners of your eyes? When spotted a brotherhood of compassion ignites word play and relationship through memories only radio people understand and to my knowlege have never kept to themselves because its always fun to find new listeners to share it with.
Missing from our team of communicators this new sun is Nate Quick.
Google, Facebook, pull off a personal investigation and the picture hung in your gallery to see will be one of radio’s absolute best because he always put the community first. God worked through him everyday and in his shadow rests a legacy influenced and inspired by a desire to do one thing…create in ways that invite people you may never meet to stop by for just a moment to….listen.
The industry and listening family will forever miss Nate’s way of speaking the street.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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