I’ve had a change in
my work schedule, for the first time in my adult working life I have weekends
off! It’s a change in a lot of ways. Most noticeably I now have time off with
my wife without having to schedule it
and that has been an amazing reward for both of us.
With Sunday’s off
I’ve returned to an old habit, buying and reading the Sunday Newspaper. That is
why I say I read the news today, Oh Boy.
No, the English Army hasn’t won the war. We’ll see how many pick up on that!
Sadly progress has caught up with the newspaper industry,
I’m possibly one of the last people to discover that. Our local paper is now
owned by Gannett. Many of the stories in the paper now are merely reprints from
USA Today. It’s like broadcast news, soundbites and tidbits of useless
information that doesn’t tell the story. Journalism has taken a dive. Gone are
the days of Edward R. Murrow, Mike Royko, Jimmy Breslin. Another time, place
and blog.
Some of the
columnists have hung on, which is almost regrettable. Instead of developing new
talent over the years we have predictable writers with predictable opinions.
But, I digress.
There is a section of the paper that I read completely every
Sunday. Some may find this morbid, but hang in there, an explanation is here.
Everyone’s life is interesting and should be acknowledged.
It’s sad in a way, that as a whole we don’t truly appreciate a person’s life
until it is over. The obituary is where we find out so many facts about people,
details, loves, losses careers, hobbies, pets, favorite things to do. Things
that we often wish we had known when they were with us.
I’ve found that small town papers are much better to read in
all aspects. When we are out of town I always try to pick up the local paper.
The obituaries in them are in depth, by the time I’ve finished reading them I
feel like I knew the person, or wish I had met them.
Here’s an experiment,
write your own obituary and see how incredible your life is. Share it with a
friend or loved one, don’t be shy!
