The reason why I enjoy autobiographies with a motivational twist usually has nothing to do with the person and everything to do with how those who’ve made it constantly say the funniest most provoking things.
President Ronald Reagan got me hooked on this method of communication—August 11, 1984…while preparing to deliver his weekly radio address on National Public Radio, a typical studio microphone check flipped the political world upside down, “My fellow American’s I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
Before You Tube, Face Book and the Commodore 64, news directors and ratings hounds performed at the height of their daily expectations doing what they did best…locate the next big thing people will talk about tomorrow. This one made it around the world without the aid of the web—the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun printed an article based on how serious the Soviets took the blunder; they put their Far Eastern Army on full alert. Oops…
Look, I’m going to be honest with you…the best part of radio is the material that never makes it to the air. Who better to grasp that concept then nationally recognized standup comedian Pam Stone? It became her personal mission to guarantee radio listeners the opportunity to be part of broadcast reality way before such realisms became a nightly fixture on prime time TV. It earned her the coveted Gracie Award.
We’ve always been surrounded by strong quotes and misguided sentences with enough push and shove that it’s ripped a hole in the material protecting us from the hot sun or unexpected rainstorm. We depend on Late Night kings like Letterman and Leno to hire the people forced to listen to everything. E Entertainments Soup has become a cable television institution doing nothing more than poking fun of the realms of reality and things we do while running away from the shadows created.
Vietnamese Buddhist Monk and spiritual teacher Thick Nhat Hahn uses words to clarify how simple it is to regain control of the assumed lost path. What he shares within his once living trees is no different than NBC’s Breakthrough with Tony Robbins; its Oprah Winfrey compassion combined with pick your lazy booty ba tooty up and let’s get back to living! Tony has gained the confidence and courage through nonstop learning to speak in single sentences that motivate positive lasting change.
How many people do you know that have placed in the soil their entire plantation of being on famous movie quotes? Star Wars is flooded with powerful knowledge all stemming from already famous quotes from the Bible. Hit up Amazon.com and scratch into the surface of, “Whoa I didn’t know.”
So why all this junk in the trunk talk about blips, blunders, quickly quoted sentences and unmasked reality? I’ve been infected as well as motivated by a quote that was handed to me at six this morning; it’s led to digging deeper into the Georgia clay that stains everything including your little toe.
Look around you…listen beyond sound and catch a glimpse of the stuff not making it to the forefront of on-air broadcast; unemployment in America won’t begin to change until the end of 2012. Nobody wants to talk about helping business owners. Such conversation creates the tiniest of trickles creating fear of hard fought battles that rattle but do nothing in changing our place in history. We take it in, digest its presentation and shoot it through our system before it’s delivered to those who make up what it is we’re trying to accomplish. The economy isn’t depressed…the people are.
The music of the 60’s may have been in protest but in the chapters thereafter Crosby Stills and Nash, Dylan and even Springsteen have proved to be poets with a pen and through their methods of message sharing the earth has moved and Carol King is shouting, “See I told you!”
Today’s music includes Nickelback: If today was your last day; American Idol Kris Allen: Live like you were dying and Tim McGraw: Live like you were dying. We sing and sing and sing along never realizing how powerful such lyrics are to core of reasons for wanting and needing to grow. It’s easier to talk yourself into a depression then it is to be one.
Google modern songs written about dying and thousands of lists appear based on the top ten songs to play at a funeral, top favorites that make you sad, car crash tunes and on and on and on. No wonder Party in the USA from Miley Cyrus was an out of the box success in an age when purchasing music has hit yet another all time low. One problem, we can only handle being happy for three minutes and forty two seconds with a cool fade at the end.
Oh! The quote that rocked my world at six this morning! How can today be the end of the world when tomorrow is already happening in Australia?
I dare you to try and have a bad day…someone in a completely different country has already beat you to it, which would make you a follower and that’s not your cup of tea.
I am who I am because being who I am makes it alright to be plain ole boring me and I like it when I look in the mirror and see _______________.
1. Toothpaste on my chin
2. A rat’s nest of hair my mother doesn’t have to shove a comb through
3. Facial hair I swear grows by the second but we can’t speed up Time Warner Cable
4. Eyes that carry the child’s dream even though I’m dressed in adult clothes
5. Ink on my fingertips from writing but I don’t wash it off because it serves as a
reminder that my most important daily goal has been achieved: write without excuses
In the game of life you are your own Rock Star Roadie, stage manager, songwriter, musician, promoter, promotions director and big rig driver. More importantly you have to be the biggest and best fan of that person standing in the mirror. Make some noise and let your heart and dreams find reason to keep creating new songs to sing.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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