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Stories and signs

On NPR a few weeks ago, I heard a story about the Challenger disaster and the frantic moments shortly thereafter. According to the story — which may have been fiction — there was a quick and heated debate between a news reporter and her producer, immediately after the shuttle's destruction and during a quick break for a commercial, over whether or not to discuss Christa McAuliffe when the program resumed. The producer felt it was not an appropriate direction to take for the developing story, while the reporter felt it was indeed an appropriate direction. After some back-and-forth, the reporter decided she was going to defy the wishes of her superior, and she did so with these words (or similar ones):

"I can't not talk about her. Christa McAuliffe is us, and perhaps she is the best of us. She took our hopes and dreams with her...."

I can't seem to find this piece online anywhere, which is odd, because most of the programs on NPR are archived well and easily accessible. If I remember correctly, though, the reporter went on the air and talked about Christa McAuliffe just as she said, and ended up winning some sort of award for her impromptu broadcast. Hence why I think it was a piece of fiction. I would think something like that would be pretty well-documented if it had really happened.

At any rate, the story moved me. It's been awhile since I was moved by something on the radio, and it encapsulated a lot of things for me at once.

Hearing a story on the radio instead of news, commercials, or music (not even addressing the quality of popular music today) gave me a lot of hope. It means stories still matter, at least to some people, and thus there is still a market for them. We're not necessarily living in a society with a 15-second attention span, we've not reduced our entire culture to sound bites and 160-character thoughts.

The human voice is still important in this age of commercialization and mass media. And it was not only the voice reading the story, it was the voice of the protagonist in the story, the one who said, "No, I will do this my way, because it is the right way, and it is the right way because I believe it is." It was the voice of whoever penned the piece, having a vision and chasing after it until it gave up its secrets.

At a deeper level, I realized our time here is short and growing shorter each day. You'd think I'd be pretty damned aware of this by now. It seems, however, I'm getting reminded of it more and more frequently, as if it's a lesson I've yet to grasp.

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young

— John Mayer

I feel like maybe I should do something different this year, something I've never done before — and something which involves speaking up and telling a story. Doing it my way, and believing it's the right way. I'm not sure what it's going to be yet. But when it comes around, I hope I'll recognize it easily.

Posted January 3, 2010 @ 23:31:05 EST. 0 comments.

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