ASense Of Perspective

While I sit here enjoying a brief moment of solitude, gently nursing a cup of coffee, I can't help but ponder a few things. Forgive me as I ponder aloud - in text.

Understanding is the key to success - in business, in government, in international relations, and in life. I'm aware that reads like a bunch of heebijeebie self help crap... but think about it.

We're radio people. We've worked in more markets than we like to count. We know to walk into a new market and figure the place out. We know that Seattle is not Miami is not Albany is not Ames Iawa. We mock those who treat them as if they're the same with the same ideas and the same programming. We watch them fail, and I dare say that we enjoy it. This is my town. If you walk in here and bring Detroit radio with you, I'll be more than happy to watch the market give you a thumping you'll not soon forget. Right?

And then, at the end of the day, we leave our radio stations & forget that what we have learned applies to real life.

We treat the middle east as if it's Europe, and then we wonder why they hate us - or worse, FEAR US. The answer isn't to give in to terrorism by any means. The answer is to fight terrorism while building bridges with foreign nations. The answer is understanding their values and respecting them.

And while thinking about all of this, I read the following at CNN.com: "A 100-foot diameter asteroid will pass within 26,500 miles of Earth on Thursday evening, the closest-ever brush on record by a space rock, NASA astronomers said."

Maybe none of this matters anyway. Eventually we're going to get hit by something big - probably a lot bigger than 100 feet across. But that day isn't today, and today my coffee tastes great.