Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero and Politics

There have been rumblings about late nite, back room plannings in the political world to day.  This brought a Hero story to mind.
The Hero had a hard time believing what he read in the newspapers or magazines.  There was a reason for this. When he was in his 30's, he was moonlighting doing flooring applications for kitchens, etc after work to make more money for our growing family.  Sometimes it meant he would work in the wee hours of the morning so he could be at his day job on time. 
One such job was at a restaurant in Montrose area of Houston.  He came home upset.  I asked him what was the problem.  Had they not paid him, did the job go wrong?  "No," he said, "the job was just fine.  It was what I saw happen this morning that upset me."  I waited while he went in and cleaned up, then came back into the room.  Yes.  What happened?  He said he was finishing up, it was 3am, and in comes the 3 top reporters for the ---- newspapers.  That was strange since they were competitors, but in a few minutes, some people from the newsrooms of the local TV stations came in and sat down with them.  (right here I will say I forgot to say this was a 24hour restaurant.)   The Hero said there wasn't anyone but the staff and himself around so they didn't keep their voices down as they talked.  Then in came another reporter, (he told me who, but I don't remember).  This person threw a folder down in the center of the table and said "Here's tomorrow's headlines".  They all reached out and began looking through the file.  After a little discussion, they mapped out the campaign for presenting the news the coming day.  The Hero was upset to see that what was presented to the public as breaking news had been planned in the early morning hours by a few men. 
He would never accept on face value any articles again.  He had to research the information and persons out himself in many different places, before making a decision about politics or financial discussions.  Because of earlier experiences in his life, he would evaluate each political person by their merit, history, and people they associated with. I will share with you next week about his college experiences during the 60's.  He was accused by friend, foe, and family alike of being a conspiracy theorist.  He didn't let that bother him, he knew what he had seen.
In truth it is the best way to make decisions. I am glad we had that nudge in the right direction.

2 comments:

  1. Sure does make you think doesn't it? It is hard for me to completely trust even those I think are the most trustworthy (if that makes sense). If money doesn't motivate them, ratings do. I hate it. I just want to know the real truth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds just like my granddaddy. He never saw anything like that but he was quite skeptical of the media and always did his own research based on the politician's track record. Smart men I'd say.

    ReplyDelete